Vacuum
by Blue Sabbath
Summary: When Police detective Victoria Valentine is tasked to find the killer, who was responsible for the death of her lover, she finds it very hard. She has to fight her inner demons and her tragic past as well as the whole world, all alone. Timothy Turner, her new partner though thinks otherwise as seemingly unrelated cases string together uncannily.(AU,rated M for mature content)
1. Chapter 1

Detective Victoria Valentine was staring at the dead body. Her eyes were emotionless, her face was blank. The small blood puddle has formed under the head. It was a headshot. The man was of mid twenties just like her, just like her a detective of the PD. Ricki Gomes wasn't the most friendly man but was her partner, a brilliant detective with a little sadistic tilt. Vicki's teeth clenched, "Stupid, how could you die on me? Why did I even let you go?"

 **One day earlier**

"Vicki, I have a lead, a dealer had spotted our bird." Ricky was boiling in excitement. For the first time he was getting some light in a very tight case.

An old lady was murdered in her apartment, there were no signs of forced entry, the door was locked from inside so were the windows. The old woman was shot from point blank range, they also discovered the murder weapon. Surprisingly not a single valuable was taken.

Alas, there weren't any fingerprints on the gun. Apparently killer only used a gun. At the time of the murder the security of the house saw no one coming in or going out. The body was found by a pizza delivery boy as a Pizza was ordered at that address. The autopsy revealed that the old woman already had dinner and the Pizza company confirmed that the order came from a payphone and a young woman ordered it.

Ricky had already employed his "street children" (a bunch of young homeless kids) to gather information. Yesterday one of them came with a very intriguing news, . The contact will wait for Ricky at Ford Street, tomorrow from 4-5 in afternoon.

Ricky threw 10 bucks to his kid informer, "This means celebration, need to pay Vicki a visit."

Ricky had no fear of the demon incarnate of the PD. To anyone else she was the devil incarnate, a rash, abrasive, violent, sadistic detective who snapped out at criminals and innocent souls with near equal frequency. Surprisingly Ricky had no qualms in seeing her. His partner in the investigation and potential love interest was the same Vicki Valentine.  
"I've already a lead all I need to do now is figuring out the trick the killer used. The pizza guy and the watchman do have their airtight alibis. The payphone from which the call was made also confirmed that a woman did use that. My contact also said that he has snapped a pic of that person, so it is quite clear now." Ricky finished.

Vicki's lips curled in a smile, "So you're making progress, that's commendable, but those street children?"

"Nobody suspects them. Believe me they are as good as the KGB. Now what about my reward?" Ricky asked with pleading eyes.

" Rickstaer , do you have a deathwish?" Vicki replied with a sadistic smile.

"Death in the hands of the succubus, I can die with that." Ricky had the wits to play around with the words.

"You..." Vicki lunged at Ricky, tearing his sweat shirt, "Do your pants, I'm not gonna do them for you." the enamoured woman replied.

Ricky stripped of his clothes, so did Vicki. Vicki always liked to take charge, she slowly mounted him, kissing him passionately while rubbing her clit. against his erect member.

Ricky brought out a small packet of condoms, "Safer sex is better sex, oh my queen. Thou shall ride it safely."

Vicki burst into laughter, Ricky's wit was unparalleled even in these sort of times.

"Just do it, idiot." Vicki put Ricky's member in her. They moved in unison, they moved in harmony. It wasn't their first time but it felt exhilarating for both of them. The duo climaxed simultaneously.

 **Back to reality**

"Detective Valentine, We have found two other bodies, in those dumpsters." the junior detective Kowalski informed.

Vicki snapped back back to reality by the her subordinate's voice, in her characteristic harsh tone she ordered, "Have you id'd the bodies?"

Kowalski gulped, "we are...actually..." "Shut the fuck up, don't you dare to tell me that you haven't id'd them yet, what are you a office clerk? who gave you the appointment?" the junior detective was baffled, he knew that Vicki was mean and harsh but this was unheard of.

The bodies were soon identified, one was of a homeless kid and another was a rotten corpse of a young man, who worked as a pizza delivery guy.

 **Four hours later**

"Why the pizza guy and the kid was killed, even though the kid and Ricky was killed around same time why then hide only two bodies and leave Ricky's body on the spot?Why did the killer do it? what was their angle?"

Vicki was in a brainstorming session, the current developments made almost no sense to her. She didn't cry, she vowed "I'll thrash the culprit, I'll avenge him, only on that day I'll cry."

Her chest felt like a volcano with the magma of grief boiling inside. She wanted to hurt someone, she wanted to see someone suffer, an unfortunate stray cat jumped in her room, she instantly threw her beer bottle towards it, the poor cat lost its footing and his face was bleeding badly. A smile appeared at Vicki's face, she silently strode towards it. At least now she can sleep peacefully.

 **One month later**

"Is it alright chief, to assign that rookie over there?" Assistant Chief detective Leona Collins asked Chief Hamada.

"What's wrong Collins, why do you think that?" Hamada looked a bit flustered.

"Well, Ricky had a sort of relationship with her, now he is gone. She is in a very bad mood, would it be good to send the rookie to her?" Collins was anxious.

"Believe me, Turner will pull it off. I have unwavering faith in him."

Timothy Turner waited for this day for a long period of time. From his childhood he wanted to be a detective, once a detective solved a murder-case in the neighbourhood, Timmy witnessed it. He was awed by the observational power and reasoning of the detective. He was so charged up that he bought all sorts of mystery fiction to train himself. Now it was his big break. It was his time to shine.

 **Meeting the devil**

"So you are the kid whom I've to babysit?" the question stunned the young man. He never expected that his senior partner would be this rude.  
"Listen kiddo, I have some ground rules, it's strictly professional here, don't think that I'll be your friend for a single minute." Vicki's pink eyes were glaring with anger.

"This stupid kid, why he takes after him, he only reminds me of him. Who the hell assigned him to me?" Vicki was mentally cursing , while Timmy was taken aback. He heard that Vicki's partner has been killed while he was meeting a contact, he knew that. "Probably she is suffering from guilt of not being able to save him, I should help her."

"Vicki if anything is wrong you can..." suddenly Timmy was yanked forwards by his shirt collar, Vicki's eyes were now at level with Timmy's. Burning pink looked in the azure, "Listen twerp, you aren't my therapist, so don't act like one, another step and you'll be in morgue." Vicki shoved him away violently.

Timmy blurted out a meek "Ok."

Suddenly a file was being tossed at the scared detective, "This file contains all the material about the case, read them carefully."

Timmy opened the file and started reading about the details, he occasionally took notes on his writing pad.  
After some thirty minutes Timmy was through with the details, "If yo please allow me I would like..."

He was cut short, "If it's about the case then fine." Vicki answered without even bothering to look at Timmy.

"There is a strange connection, the man whose rotten body was found used to work at the same pizza station, supposed fake order was also received at the same pizza station."

"Hmm, so what?" Vicki narrowed her eyes on Timmy.

"Um, well then the killer might have intercepted the pizza guy enroute, killed him and faked himself as the pizza guy..."

"You are a true dumbfuck, if the culprit came in the guise of a pizza guy, then he can surely kill the victim but then who discovered the body along with the watchman?" a snarl came out from her.

 **The devils wrath**

"If somebody ever writes anything about history of sucking, he must include my interaction with her. Man how can anyone be such sour and frightening? She is probably frustrated." Timmy was on his way to the gym for his daily routine of exercise and kick-boxing.

On entering the gym he could see that a spar was going on in the kick-boxing arena. A fighter in green vest and black pushups was kicking the crap out of his friend Chester. The unknown fighter moved with the swiftness of a snake and struck with the power of a tiger. Chester didn't stand a chance, he tapped out.

Timmy was intrigued, surely Chester wasn't any world champion of kick-boxing but he was better than average, else this gym would never been that famous.  
In the mean time the fight ended as Chester opted out, the other fighter looked directly towards Timmy, a cold chill ran through his spine by seeing that dusky red hair, the burning pink eyes, that ruthlessness.

Vicki shouted "Hey, Twerp, care to make me train some more?" Though it may have sounded innocent but there was a dangerous edge in it, as if "Defy me and end up in morgue."

"Again she is insulting me, why? why I'm so despised? If she wasn't like this she would have been the ideal girl." Timmy sighed and replied "But you might break me, literally."

"It's your choice twerp, spar me and I'll leave you alone in the office or you end up in the morgue."

With no other options viable, Timmy had to oblige, though the Gym was near empty and Chester was busy licking his wounds so Timmy thought it won't be that bad.

Timmy put on his helmet and sparring gloves and entered the arena, "let's dance twerp" Vicki's lips cured in a wicked smile.

Initially the fight seemed to be in a deadlock, as Timmy was defensively very strategic. The blows which he couldn't avoid brought him moderate pain. On the offensive he was able to deal two good hooks. As if the intensity with which she was fighting Chester was gone. Suddenly Timmy saw an opening and used a roundhouse kick, It caught Vicki by surprise but yet she dodged it.

"I thought that I might go easier on you, but you are a Beeg boy, so brace yourself twerp." Vicki launched a furry of combinations of hooks, jabs, crosses and uppercuts. Timmy was baffled he was hardly able to block anything, these blows brought immense pain to him, Vicki followed it up with a knee strike in his gut. Timmy doubled over, the wind was out of his lungs, he crouched down and tried to support his torso with his arms.

"Soo, you call yourself my partner, Ricky was much better than you, he would given me a run for my money, unlike you, pathetic piece of shit."

The comment cut little deeper than Vicki had intended, "I'm not done yet. Do you even know that that you're no different than the thugs you subdue? I'm not going to let you trample over me, anymore." Timmy stood up in his stance with great difficulty.

"Still talking big, twerp." Vicki leapt forward and dealt a jumping roundhouse kick on Timmy's head, the blow was brutal. Timmy felt a massive sensation of pain and his world blacked out.

Timmy woke up with aching pain all over his body, "There there, don't strain yourself." the familiar voice was reassuring, as Chester was currently looking at him. Chester helped Timmy to sit.  
"She is a very violent fighter, she is merciless, that's why I opted out from the bout. I guess you ticked her off somehow, though she never thrashed anyone like you." Chester stated.  
"She doesn't need a reason to hurt anyone, especially me." Timmy's voice dipped with anger.

"That's bad dude, but what did you do to deserve this? She didn't even told me that you were out cold." Chester asked

"Oh well, I was partnered with her as her previous partner was killed in an attack.I tried to be nice to her, she started hating me, throwing insults and punches with equal frequency. It's my fate, dude."Timmy answered while standing up.

 **In her mind**

"I'm not done yet. Do you even know that that you're no different than the thugs you subdue? I'm not going to let you trample over me, anymore." she thought in her mind, "What an inslovent brat, I'm right in hating him. I should have made him suffer more."

Vicki was returning to her apartment, beating the crap out of the rookie gave her satisfaction, it eased her pain. Suddenly a stray cat stood in her path, she saw its face was scared from the beer bottle she threw at it. The cat shook in fear and fled upon seeing her. "Guess, now I'm the beeg bad Vicki, good, it's good to be bad, cause being good is just being spineless." Vicki uttered in her mind.

She opened her flat and threw the kit bag on the couch and strode over to the fridge, she brought out the sandwiches and put them in the microwave to heat them up.

Vicki was shivering, she had to flee. She knew that her father hits them but not this. Her father would always hurl things at her mom, her sister and herself but this was terrifying. She had seen her father stabbing her mother to death. Her father was covered in blood, he looked like a demon, a fiend. He saw them he chased them, she ran with her little sister Tootie. They locked themselves in the living room, and Vicki called 911.

I need help, my father killed my mom and wants to kill us.

...

Please come first.

...

The door burst open, Richard came in with a knife in his hand, "Hey my little dearies, looks like I'll have to take care of you now."

"Stay away from us you bastard." Vicki shielded Tootie.

Richard Valentine brushed the his older daughter aside, and snatched his younger daughter, Vicki tried to attack but Richard kicked her on head, thus rendering her motionless, then he tore Tootie's clothing.

"Daddy, please no hurt me, please no ..." her screams were muffled, a tear escaped Vicki's eye, but the following incident shook her from her core, Richard held the defenceless girl and undid his pants. Then he forcefully raped his daughter, Tootie's cries were muffled by his strong hand, soon he slashed Tootie's throat still riding violating her. The room filled with the coppery smell, Vicki still couldn't move but her face showed only one emotion.

Richard let go of Tootie's body, "Now I'll do you, big red slut." he teasingly strode to her. Vicki readied her body for a final attack, suddenly a thunderclap was heard, Vicki saw Richard crouching down, holding his right wrist , blood ozzing out of there. Vicki knew 911 did their job.

Vicki woke up in her bed with dripping sweat, "The same dream, well almost like time travel." she looked at her clock, "2 a.m., still a long way to go." she got up and fetched herself a glass of water and turned the a.c. two degrees lower.

"Ricky, you surely did great for me." she sighed as the memories of her scarred early life came back to her and how her relationship with Ricky helped her cope with her battered past.

As if Ricky was designed for her, to heal her wounds, to cater her needs, to shoulder her when she needed it most. Ricky's perceptive nature never gave her a chance to complain. If her memories haunted her, Ricky was there, if she cried even then Ricky was there, the first touch of love which she had after an almost eternity was his. When the world looked at her sympathetically for her past, tried to show the mock concern it only angered her. She was outraged by their shallowness.

Ricky showed genuine concern and love to her, she was happy after an eternity.

"That dumb kid, he thinks he understands me, well what does he know in the first place, acting like a tough guy, trying to play hero in my eyes. He will never become a fraction of what Ricky was." Vicki threw the pillow out of frustration.


	2. Chapter 2: The rise of the twerp

Vicki was reading herself for the day, she has already bathed and took her breakfast. Now she was scanning her wardrobe for something decent to wear. Only a green tee and a black jean looked suitable, she wore her two favourite colours after a very long time. Ricky didn't like that combination so she didn't wear them that much in recent past. She hurriedly wore them and looked at the mirror, "guess, I look younger in these." It was almost after a month that she looked directly at her reflection. She came out of her house to board her car. Suddenly a very melodious song was heard, a homeless man was singing a song along with a old Spanish guitar, in front of him there was an old hat, stood upside down, well meaning people helped him by putting donations in it.

She listened carefully at the song,

 _Everyone is searching for a new world,  
How hard it seems, though they don't care  
Jumping over the fence, over the birbed wires.  
Not knowing, what lies in future._

 _We've been running for an eternity,  
Without hope, remembering despair.  
Being swept around by crowd ,  
I let go the hand ,I trust._

 _Now I smile with a frown,  
I'm miserable deep down.  
When my mask overflow with tears,  
I wear a new mask._

 _In the battlefield I still walk on  
the pressure of failure weighs like a ton.  
Yet the dream is there in a faraway cape,  
Despite my clumsiness, I'll surely reach there._

"There you go, old man." Vicki tossed a buck in his hat.

"Thank you, Miss." the homeless man replied.  
Vicki felt very free and liberated after hearing the song, yes she also has a dream lying in a far away cape, she needs to navigate through this storm , she has to sail through this gale.

 **(Chief Hamada's office)**

It wasn't any regular incident that a rookie detective will frequent chief Hamada's cabin at 9.30 in the morning.

"Sir please, she is insane and violent. I can't work with her." Timmy almost pleaded.  
"She has solved 100 cases in last 4 years, she is the ace of our department, though I must admit that she can be hard at times, but you should thank your luck that you got such a partner."Hamada replied without any interest in Timmy's plea.

"But she always insults me, calls me names and vents her anger on kick-boxing arena. She is….." Timmy was interrupted by Hamada, "Look, kid. That girl had a lot to deal with, her father killed her mom and sister right in-front of her eyes, now her partner is also killed. She blames herself for letting all those things to happen. She needs your compassion, if you can't provide that then stay out of her path, don't try to make her more miserable."

Timmy didn't knew that Vicki had this sort of a hard life, "Well, I can at least stay out of her way, and not bring these issues up with her anymore. Yeah, that should do it."

"Now go to your desk Turner, you have a lot to do." Chief Hamada indicated that Timmy should leave now, Timmy came out of the room with a lighter heart.

 **(Two days earlier)**

"Miss. Heather, that guy has again threatened Samuel." Robin Corby was boiling in excitement as he conveyed the message to the young store manager.

"Somebody is playing a dirty prank on Sam, who the hell alerts their victims beforehand?" Heather looked disapprovingly at Robin. "You guys just need to focus on your work, tell Sam to rehearse the phrases, the Astroguy seems to be hit among the children."

"Okay, Mam ." Robin affirmed his young, blonde manager.

 **(Strange links)**

Timmy was scanning through the file, suddenly a certain photograph captured his imagination, the name was Ricky Gomes. The person in the photo looked very similar to him, he has seen this face whenever he has looked at the mirror, the only difference that this person had reddish brown eyes and coppery red hair unlike his blue eyes and brown hair.

"That's why she is so much pissed at me, I look like her dead partner, I remind her of all the times she had with him. Such a fucking luck I have." Timmy thought to himself, his train of thought was interrupted when he heard footsteps and whistling. In a green top and black jeans pant, the current bane of his existence Victoria Valentine appeared.

Timmy was anxious, he didn't know that whether having a conversation will ease things or complicate things more. A sly smile graced Vicki's lips, "Morning, Twerp. Don't worry, I won't bite you for no reason." She bared her shark teeth to emphasize her point.

"Hi…., morning, Vicki" Timmy blurted, "If she wasn't that scary she would really be sexy, what? Bad thoughts, bad thoughts." Timmy mentally scolded his brain. Vicki laughed teasingly at him.

Vicki opened the file, then it struck her, "Monica Petrovich, I've heard it somewhere before…" suddenly Vicki clenched her teeth, "Twerp, go to section three and ask for the file of Richard Valentine."

Timmy got up from his seat , he knew better than angering his senior partner.  
Third section was the place where old files were being stored, Lucy was the person handling that section currently. "It would be a matter of mere minutes." Timmy thought.  
"So you need the file of Richard Valentine?" the blonde woman asked Timmy while handing over a old red file, "Not actually, Vicki is the one who needs it."

Lucy responded with snarl, "Looks like the daughter wants to know more about her father. Like father like daughter."  
"I didn't get it, come again?" Timmy was astonished.  
"If you want to live get away from her, otherwise you'll just end up like Ricky, that woman is a living death goddess, whoever comes closer to her dies in the end. Poor you…."

Lucy was going to continue her Vicki bashing but a certain red haired woman stopped her by giving her the coldest of glares, "Looks like the twerp has already got acquitted with the blonde. Twerp take the file and come really quick. "

Timmy followed the orders without questioning Vicki, while leaving the room he heard, "Listen Blondie, if you value your life you'll keep your mouth zipped."

"Man, she is scary." Timmy thought while getting back to Vicki's desk.  
Vicki came in hurriedly, "Twerp, we need to investigate another case, move fast."  
Timmy obliged like a loyal puppy, the two almost ran towards Vicki's car.

 **(The Victim is Astroguy)**

"Have you ever heard of "Stars and the Universe" twerp?" Vicki asked while her eyes were fixed on dodging the traffic.

"If you mean that mall which sells NASA merchandise and hosts sky watching events then yes." Timmy asserted.  
"Looks like you know geeky stuff, yup you're right. They also has a mascot "Astroguy" who is very popular among kids, now somebody attacked the person, who was on mascot duty and stabbed him. The victim is rushed to the hospital, the police is baffled so they referred it to our department and Hamada referred it to me." Vicki stopped her briefing.

Timmy's mind again drifted from the current case "Father of Vicki? What the hell Lucy was talking about? Vicki's father was a criminal? Why does she need to open the file again?"  
A sudden brake forced Timmy out of his thoughts, they have arrived at the spot, "Stars and Universe."

Stars and Universe was a big shopping mall, still their usp was NASA merchandise and the weekly free stargazing programme. Heather was the youngest person ever to adore the post of the manager of this prestigious establishment. Currently she was in mood to cherish her achievement infact her post felt like a thorny crown. The employees were standing in a line while the inspector of the local PD was securing the premises.  
"I'm Victoria Valentine and this is Timothy Turner, we'll be investigating the case." A fairly built female with fiery red hair and a blue eyed brunet male entered hurriedly.

The local police inspector briefed the duo about the case,

 **Today around 10.30 the incident happened , the regular person playing the Astroguy Samuel was feeling severe abdominal pain and loose motion so Timantha had to fill in his place. The old maid was moping the floor outside the change room. Timantha changed up into Astroguy and came out around 10.30, suddenly Miss. Gibbons saw a person in a blue trouser and green shirt attacked the Astroguy and shouted "Die, Samuel." He held a huge knife and thrusted it in the belly of Astroguy and then left running. Miss Gibbons created a racket and everyone came out, the ambulance was informed be Ms. Heather, then the police were knife was left embedded in Victims abdomen, there were no fingerprints on it, the attacker also wore a ski mask. The CCTV didn't covered that place so there is no footage. The CCTV's on entrance and exit caught nothing abnormal on that stipulated time frame. Only six persons were not in the CCTV footages at that time, they are Heather, Ron, Robin,Samuel,Veronica and the maid .**

Vicki heard the whole thing with absolute attention, and then announced "Everyone, we need to record your statements, and someone please show me the CCTV tapes, Timmy record their statements. This is probably an inside job.", "Hey you," Vicki pointed at the inspector, "Do a search for the clothing of the suspect, now." The inspector started to carry out the command.

"I told you, they will suspect us." A blonde employee named Veronica screamed.  
"Nope, we have to cooperate with them, even if they suspect us, we have to do it to catch the attacker." Robin reasoned.

Timmy asked to himself "Why did the attacker attacked Timantha while she was wearing the costume? They could have easily attacked Samuel in the night, they mixed up between Samuel and Timantha only for that costume."

Vicki again snarled, "To prevent splattering of blood, you need to learn a lot Timmy."

 **(Skill sets of the twerp)**

 **(Heather)**

The first one to be interrogated was Heather. A spacious backroom was setup as the impromptu interrogation room. The list wasn't a big one, it only consisted five persons, Heather, Robin, Remy, Veronica and Samuel. Still Timmy thought he might add to the list.

"Your name and age?"

"Heather Salt . 24."

Your occupation?

"Store manager."

"Where were you at the time of the incident?"

"I was in a meeting with Robin and Ron from 10 to 10.30, we had to stop our meeting when we heard screaming ."

"What were you discussing?"

"Plans to restructure the shopping bay."

"Why did Timantha had to play Astroguy today?"

"Well Samuel is the one who plays Astroguy, Timantha is our reserve candidate in this regard. Today after coming to work Samuel felt a very strong abdominal pain with loose motion, he was in no place to play Astroguy, so Timantha filled his place."

"Did anyone had a rivalry towards Samuel?"

"Now that you mention it, Samuel told me that someone was threatening him over phone, I thought it was just a prank, but under current circumstances it doesn't seem so."

"Hmm…..how many times was he threatened? Did it happened before you"

"Twice. No, first threat came on his cellphone, while the next one came in the bar, where Samuel was also there with Veronica and Robin."

"Fine, please send in Robin."

 **(Robin)**

"Your name and age?"

Robin Corby, 27.

"Your occupation?"

"Customer sentiment analyst ."

"Where were you at the time of the incident?"

"I was in the meeting with Remy and Heather, we were discussing some remodelling of our shopping bay."

Why Timantha had to play the Astroguy?

"Well our regular Astroguy Samuel was down with severe abdominal pain and loose motion, so naturally she had to fill in."

Well, did anyone had any rivalry with Samuel?

"No, no. Samuel is a very good guy, but guess what somebody is threatening him over phone. Once over his cell phone and once while we're celebrating Veronica's promotion in bar."

Did you guys got any ideas, from where the call could have been made?

"Yes, but both were made from public phones, as they came directly in Samuel's mobile we just called back the number, then somebody in both situations verified that this is a pay phone's number."

"Ok, please send in Ron."

 **(Ron)**

"Your name and age?"

"Ronald 'Ron' Owen, 36."

"Your occupation?"

"I'm the owner of this mall."

"Where were you at the time of the incident?"

"I was with Heather and Robin, we were discussing about some restructuring of the shopping bay."

"Did Samuel had any rivals?"

"Nope, he is a great kid."

"So you didn't hear about those threat calls he was receiving?"

"Nope, I don't poke y nose in their personal lives."

Fine send in Veronica.

 **(Veronica)**

"Your name and age?"

"Veronica Starr, 22."

"You occupation?"

"I'm like the in-charge of toy section."

"Where were you at the time of the incident?"

"I was like checking up on Samuel, he was like so sick, I had to check on him. The commotion woke him up, shouts like a boar."

"Hmm, why Timantha had to play Astroguy?"

"Timantha was like reserve bencher, when Sammy, yeh..Samuel got sick she was the only viable option."

"Did Samuel have any rivalry with anyone?"

"Like no, he is such a cute, ye..nice guy. He won't like harm a fly."

"What about the threat calls?"

"No clue about those, those came like, only twice, once over his phone and once on my party."

"Why did you throw that party?"

"Like I just got promoted as the in-charge of Toy section with Timantha, so it's like my celebration."

"Did both of you threw the party jointly?"

"Like no, Timantha is very pessimistic and antisocial, like an old hag, she is like penny pincher."

Fine, send Samuel in."

 **(Samuel)**

"Detective Turner, can you please do it faster, I've to hit the bathroom yet again."

Before Timmy could react to this legitimate request, the door of the room busted open and a frowning Vicki came in.

" you have to wait a little longer, Timmy go on."

Samuel somehow seated, and with a pained expression he looked at Timmy, Timmy ignored his pleading eyes.

"Name and age?"

"Samuel De'Cox, 21."

"Occupation?"

"I'm the sales employee and Astroguy."

"From when did your abdominal issue popped up?"

"Around 9.30, I had a coffee with Veronica at 9 as usual at 9.30 abdominal pain with loose motion set in."

"what were you doing at time of the incident?"

"I felt very weak due to pain and fluid loss, everyone advised me to take a nap in the back-room, this very room. So I took a nap from 10, the commotion woke me up, on waking up I saw a very astonished Veronica while rampant commotion in the hallway."

"So you were being threatened by someone?"

"Yes,ohh. please I need to use the..."

Samuels plea was cut short, "Shut up , you know that you are also a suspect, so I think in your best interest you will co-operate with us, Maurice come in." Vicki's cold voice made Samuel Jittery.

A gloved nerdy pathologist came in, Vicki stated "Maurice take a sample from Mr. Samuel's stool.

Samuel left with a hung head with accompanied with Maurice.

Timmy handed his notepad to Vicki, "All of them seems to have airtight alibis. Only suspicious person is Samuel."

Vicki nodded in disagreement, "You surely are a mismatch for me, you'll always be a level lower, Twerp."

"Again, twerp is back." Timmy sighed, "Um..Vicki I need to question the maid also , so..."

"Do whatever you like but you have 20 minutes to impress me with your deductive skills." Vicki stated with a deadpan expression.

Timmy hurried towards the restroom, probably the old maid would be found there.

"The twerp has some skills, but are they enough? Well 20 minutes to figure out." Vicki smiled, she has already cracked the case. She strode towards the drinks corner, a carton of pink lemonade is peeping through the cooler.

Timmy talked with for three minutes, "This is a new development, probably there is more than meets the eye, 20 minutes, why she have to be like this, is it all a game for her?"

Timmy un-mindfully strode towards the toy section, suddenly he saw Heather, Robin and Veronica were carrying some stuff.  
"It's hot and the a.c is also down, Veronica you should take off your jacket." Heather suggested Veronica, while trying to wipe of some sweat from her fore-head. Veronica was drenched in sweat, yet she replied "I'm fine, besides like ,I've a hidden cold, I might contract an infection if I took it off," Robin and Heather looked at her with astonished eyes.

The realization hit Timmy like a truck, "I'm such a fool; this is such a simple case, that's why that person's alibi fails."

Timmy dashed towards the announcement room.

Vicki was looking at her watch, "Any minute now, if Hamada was right about him then it is just mere seconds..."

A loud announcement broke her attention,

 **"Attention everyone, This is Detective Timothy Turner; all the suspects please gather in the back room."**

Vicki instructed "Inspector , be prepared, we will have to make an arrest.", "Certainly, Mam." the inspector obliged.

Timmy was standing in the room while the six persons mentioned above were being seated in the big sofa. Vicki was leaning on the coffee table, while Inspector guarded the only entrance from inside.

Samuel was glaring at Maurice, if looks could kill Maurice would be dead 10 times by now.

Timmy with a very cold voice started the resolution of the case, " From they very first instance this case looked a bit odd. If someone had a grudge on Samuel, then why they would threat Samuel in the first place? This would only jeopardize their plan."

Samuel stood up "So are you suggesting I'm the culprit?"

Timmy replied, "No, infact the Culprit used you to throw of the investigation, a racket was created as Samuel being targeted, so if Timantha dies in the supposed cross-fire then nobody would think she was being targeted. Culprit used this to her advantage."

Heather and Veronica looked little flustered due to the mention of the pronoun.

Robin and Samuel screamed in unison "Both of them has airtight alibis and we can vouch for them."

"Yes you can, but one of them doesn't have an airtight alibi any more, do you know that the corridor linking with changing room and the back room is out of CCTV coverage?" Timmy added with a smart chuckle.

"So what, anybody can kill her and hide ..." Samuel stopped suddenly, "Veronica,...you were there when I woke up." he looked at Veronica anxiously.

"I had a chat with the maid , she told that Veronica had told her to mop the floor around 10.20, if she wasn't there nobody would have heard the culprit screaming, "Die, Samuel." so it would be a little hard to think that Samuel wasn't targeted." Timmy finished his sentence, to search for a drink, Vicki threw the bottle of pink lemonade to him. He gulped it in a single try.

"Ahh...so the culprit created an illusion that Samuel was being targeted and even made sure there was a witness who have heard the culprit screaming that phrase, so even if the original target was Timantha nobody would dare to think she was the main target, everybody will think that the poor girl died due to a mix up." Timmy continued, "But, to make Timantha wear that Astroguy costume one has to make sure that Samuel is unwell to discharge his duties, hey , Maurice tell us about your pathological test?"

Samuel's face became beet red, "Samuel 's stool contained traces of a very potent purgative." Maurice concluded.

"So suffering an abdominal pain and loose motion is due to a potent purgative, now Samuel won't do this to himself as then..."Veronica screamed on top of her lungs "What the hell you are insinuating? Samuel can poison himself and carry out the attack as you have said." Samuel looked at Veronica with pure astonishment.

"If he does that then he is an idiot, he was running for the bathroom every 5 minutes, he wouldn't able to carry out such a methodical attack, by the way , you are sweating why don't you open your jacket?" Timmy smiled teasingly.

Veronica gulped and then tried to run out of the room, but Vicki caught her left arm and with a picture prefect judo throw threw her on the ground, then she rode on Veronica and unbuttoned her pink jacket, her's was a both side wearable with the inner side being green,"I'm pretty sure her trousers are both sided too." Timmy concluded.

Vicki added on, "You were fondling your breasts during this whole time, you have hidden the mask in your bra. for sure."

McCarty handcuffed Veronica, "Looks like I'm done for, yes I killed that bitch." Veronica screamed while drawing daggers with her eyes.

"What was your motive?" Timmy asked, though he had a fair idea. Veronica pointed towards Samuel with her cuffed hands, "That bitch and I, we both knew each other from our early days, we both once were professional sluts, then we moved out from there, when I was going to start afresh with Samuel, that bitch demanded money from me, she threatened that she would expose my past..." Veronica broke down with tears, McCarthy guided her out, suddenly Vicki's mobile phone rang,

"Yes, speaking."

...

"Ok."

Timantha has succumbed to her injuries.

 **(Not so Twerpy?)**

Timmy and Vicki were standing outside the mall, the afternoon sunrays drenched both detectives, Timmy looked at Vicki, Vicki smiled at him.

" told me that you questioned her in the first place right after I went to interrogate them. You figured it out then and there." Timmy was really astonished and was having a fan-boy like awe.

"Yes, the area around which the crime was committed, wasn't regularly cleaned, ,yet that was being cleaned today just before the attack happened, so I asked the cleaner, she told me that it was Veronica, who told her to clean such a place which they clean only once in a year.. I figured it then and there." Vicki smiled cheekily.

"Yes, I also got it, when I went to question her." Timmy stated.

"You did good, you have some raw talent, but you need conditioning, I take back what I said to you earlier of being a piece of shit." Vicki smiled.

"So,..." Vicki yanked the brunet by his collar again, "Look, twerp. You have some skills, that doesn't make you him. Don't dare to cross the line." Her eyes were glaring, yet to him she looked beautiful and for the first time Timmy's eyes blown his cover, they revealed admiration."

"Just as obdurate like him, still sharper than him. He is surely better than I expected, but is he as understanding as him?" Vicki's looks got toned down with her thought.

"Um...Vicki, people are watching." Timmy almost whispered.

Vicki let him go, Timmy smoothed out his collar, then proposed, "Shall we have ice cream?"

"Yes, the bill's on you, twerp." Vicki replied with a smile, "Yes, I've got my sailor, now I can chase the dream of the faraway cape." After a long time Vicki felt happy.

* * *

 **Heather is not my OC, she was created by Salty Jack. The song is inspired from Kibouhou the opening track of Spiral:bonds of reasoning.**


	3. Chapter 3: The design

It was already past 7, Timmy had left for home. Vicki stayed back, that case ate up her time, she needed to concentrate on that file.  
Her past taught her how ruthless people can be, from High school to office, people sneered at her, they would talk how deplorable she is because her father was a damned criminal. In high school this involved her in numerous fights, she would often returned home with a cut or bruise though her adversaries sustained greater injuries. Her office was a different story, here the back-biting was shruder , people talked with her with as empathetic face, their true emotion of distrust and hatred were masked by that pseudo empathy. Her previous boss was so wary of her that he won't sent her out side the station, to him her DNA was criminal. Only two persons in the force behaved normally, Ricky and Chief Hamada.

She was yet to disclose this darker past of her to her newest partner, she didn't expect anything from the twerp till yesterday but his smartness has changed her opinion a little bit.  
"Timmy is yet to be tested, I'm not sure whether he can be trusted or not, but this case has nothing to do with that. For the time being Timmy doesn't need to know about that. Monica Petrovic, who the hell are you?" Vicki whistled to herself.

Vicki flipped the file of Richard Valentine, "Hmm...let's see about the witnesses, uh..no Monica here; man I heard the name around that time." Vicki threw the the file over the desk due to frustration, suddenly a thought rushed through her mind. A old memory played in front of her eyes just like a movie.

 **(Captured in her eyes)**

Just like a devout home maker, Nicky Valentine's daily routine was cooking, cleaning, sending Vicki and Tootie to school and making love with her Husband Richard Valentine. That day wasn't a very normal one, Vicki had never seen her mom so upset in her 14 year old life. As a kid she had no idea about her mom's mental situation or its reason. Now when Richard came back fro work, she didn't greet her like usual, instead took him to the bedroom and closed the door. Vicki being Vicki put her ears on the locked door and she listened their conversation.

It wasn't even a conversation first place, infact a violent and loud altercation

"Richard, are you cheating on me?"

"Yes, what're you gonna do do about that? You live on my money whore, so shut your mouth."

"Why should I? Monica, Monica Petrovich, Tootie's maths tutor saw you with do you have to say about that?"

"She fucks better than you, old hag. Be grateful that I'm also feeding those to pig-daughter's of you. They can't be mine for sure."

"What did you say? My daughter's are pigs? They are not your's I'll file a divorce suit now."

"No, you'll do 'll just do nothing, you bitch..."

"Ahh...leave me, you fucker, mother fucker, fucking leave my hand."

"Die slut, die."

A freezing scream came from the room, the door burst open. Tootie also started following her sister and eavesdropped on the door, the sisters was thrown back due to the impact, a drunk Richard with blood shot eyes came out, blood splattered all over his body. A bloody knife on his right hand, she looked lustfully at his own daughters.

 **(Back to present)**

"Okay ,so Monica Petrovich was a maths tutor in Dimmsdale middle high. Only then she could tutor maths to a 10 year old girl." Vicki reasoned, as the incident happened when she was 14 and Tootie was 10.

Vicki looked relieved, "Now all I need to do is to find whether this Monica was that person or not."

Vicki opened the new case file (Monica Petrovich murder), "Oh..fuck, she is an ex-teacher of Dimmsdale junior high."

 **(Timmy time)**

Timmy was returning home with a happy mind, he solved his first case and made some peace with Vicki. Timmy patted himself on his back for his "Towering" achievement.

"A little beer party to me, ahh...perfect celebration, there is that Tandoori bar, I would surely have Tandoori with my beer." Timmy entered Tandoori bar, a bar famous for it's Tandoori and Kebabs. He didn't expect to run into anyone here, but with Timmy Turner expectations seldom realise.

"Hey Inspector Turner, so what brings you here?" Heather was enjoying her beer with kebabs. "This place is best in kebabs in the whole city." Heather blurted out as her mouth was full.  
Of all people, Heather? Over here? Timmy was astonished, though it wasn't that bad "Having beer with a hottie like Heather, so lyrical."  
"Mind if I have a seat?" Timmy was always polite with attractive girls( cough ,cough).

"Yeah, why not?" Heather patted the empty seat next to her to emphasize her point.

Timmy obliged, a waiter came to take his order. Timmy ordered Chicken kebab and Beer.

"You were so great back there, you solved the case so easily." Heather flashed a typical fan girlish demeanour.

"The clues were there, so it was quite easy; but my partner figured it out at least 15 minutes earlier, she is a superb detective."

"She seems a little mature and more hard boiled than you, still her aura is frightening." Heather closed her eyes in mock fright.

"Yeah, sometimes I also think so, but if you aren't in the wrong side, you won't need to be afraid of her." Timmy tried his best to cover up.

"Hmm, Veronica must have understood that, especially after that judo throw. Still I can't believe that a simpleton like her can carry out such a brilliant planning." Heather looked little disapproving of the reality.

"Well, she herself said that once she was a professional call-girl, so one have to be smart to survive in that environment." Timmy reasoned.

"Still, Veronica was a straight lace, she might have street smarts, but planning a murder on psychological diversion, to me it's beyond her capabilities." Heather still looked distraught.

Timmy for the first time looked at Heather from this close range, her blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, well shaped face and those sparkling hazel eyes; "She is surely a catch, still..." Timmy was pulled out of his train of thought when a he heard, "Um..Hello are you the detective who solved the case in the Stars and Universe mall?"

Timmy looked at his right and it also caught Heather's attention, a pretty girl of late teens , with two fashioned pigtails and a stylish spectacle, was talking to him.  
"Yes? and You are?" Timmy was little surprised by the teen girl's sudden interest.

"I'm Charlotte Holmes, I was there at the mall after the incident occurred, Samuel told me how easily you unearthed the crime." Charlotte stooped to take a breath.

"Charlotte Holmes, sounds dangerously familiar to the female version of a famous mythical detective." Timmy thought in her mind, "Let's blow this lass over with my deduction, shall we?" the more immature part of his brain commented to its mature partner.

"Well, Your cloths are pretty much neatly ironed and You are yet to take a seat, that means you have just arrived, Your dress code suggests that you are on a date and you overheard our conversation, that's how you deduced that I'm probably that detective who solved the crime." Timmy stopped to breathe.

"Wow, you are such a great detective, actually I'm waiting for my boyfriend, that guy is clumsy, he never shows up on time." now Charlotte was blushing and giving those fan girl looks to Timmy.

Suddenly an sms arrived in Charlotte's phone, "My boyfriend has arrived. So may you excuse me?"

"Absolutely, have fun."Heather added, Charlotte almost hopped towards another table, a young guy in pink baseball cap and pink jacket was waiting over there. Timmy shuddered as it brought back old memories, on his first date he wore the same dress and the date was disastrous.

"Wow, you are becoming popular." Heather smiled at Timmy in a teasing manner.

"Ah, come on, she is just a fan-girl , you don't need to read more from this, that's my job." Timmy countered the witty jab.

Meanwhile Timmy's order was served and he was relishing the exquisite kebab with beer.

The duo finished up, "Would you mind if I call you Timmy?" Heather asked sexily.

"No, no, absolutely not." Timmy blushed a little bit due to the girl's directness.

 **(Her dreams)**

Vicki was eating her dinner, "Tomorrow, I've to investigate in Dimmsdale Junior high, the key to this puzzle lies in there, I might find something. But the murder of Monica has a higher chance of being unrelated to that case."  
Her father's memory brought only rage and disgust in her, still it attracted her, as if there was a missing piece as if there was a a hidden truth.  
"This is enough, I need a complete rest, I have to hit Dimmsdale Junior high in early morning." Vicki was finishing the clean up.

There was a big green steppe, Vicki was wandering in it, suddenly she felt a slight pull on her left hand, she looked down. A very young boy with fiery red hair and reddish brown eye was looking at him. His eyes were glittering yet they conveyed melancholy.

"Vicki, please don't leave me alone." the young kid clung to her left leg as if it's a life and death matter.

"I won't leave you, Ricky." Vicki smiled while patting the little guy's head. Suddenly she heard a thunderclap, the next spectacle shook her cores, she was holding a lifeless Ricky, his heart is pierced by the bullet, blood came oozing out, her hands were bloodied, Ricky opened his eyes, "Vicki, please don't leave me, I love you, please don't leave me."

Vicki woke up , panting. She went for the nerve tranquillizer.

 **(AJ and Chester's overly specific advice)**

"Boy, it sure brings back our old memories." Chester exclaimed while slouching in the couch, it was a sunny Saturday morning. The three childhood friends have gathered in AJ's living room for their customary hangout.  
In their young ages, these hangouts meant gaming, loitering in Wall2wall mart, playing pranks on unsuspecting neighbours, plotting on how to propose the hotty of the school, then getting chased around by the stud boyfriend of the aforesaid hotty.

Now these hangouts meant occasional drinking, stress busting, discussing on the issues of professional hazard, devaluation of the Dollar, etc. As it was a morning hangout, Beer has been replaced by Cola.

Timmy and AJ have locked their horns in a game of chess."Yes, I envy you, being the most sought of personal fitness trainer has it's perks." Timmy replied.  
"Aw come on, most of my clients are over forty and I don't do milfs, yo AJ, do you know what happened on Thursday evening in the gym?" Chester looked at AJ who in return looked at him.  
"I guess you got some blackmail material regarding the erstwhile pink baseball cap wearing guy?"

"Damn it brainiac, no hitting below the belt." Timmy shouted in mock concern.

Chester continued, "The hottie of kick-boxing arena, Vicki; on that day she knocked our cop friend out cold. And guess what Timmy is her new partner."

"Haa...haa... that's a killer man, you got knocked out by a girl?" AJ was barely holding on his joyful tears.

"Well she is no girl, she is the devil in a female humanoid form and she hits like a sledgehammer." Timmy retorted in his defence.

"I know you want to hit her back, then practice and aim for the G-spot." Chester and AJ high-fived while both ROFLing on the expense of the brunet.

"She is super hot, red hair, pink eyes, creamy white skin, he surely is jacking off in her name." Chester's comment made Timmy blush.

"She is a great fighter, she also kicked the crap out of Chester, so she is better than me." Timmy tried to salvage some pride.

"Stop changing the topic, she sparred with me but she thrashed you. I guess she fulfilled one of your darker fantasies." Chester smiled triumphantly, Timmy knew about Chester's sense of humor, his sarcastic comments are good enough to annihilate anyone's self confidence. Timmy's wasn't anyone.

"Hey stop man, that's enough, look at his face, it's redder than a beet." AJ tried to stop the onslaught, Chester obliged, he knew where and when to stop, even friendly joking has it's limits.

"She has a traumatic past and recently lost her old partner, who probably was also her lover, and very unluckily I take after his dead partner." Timmy sighed.

"That's an interesting scenario, Timmy. Probably whenever she sees you she is reminded of her dead lover, she wants to judge you in his image, that's why she is so abrasive towards you." AJ concluded.

"On a brighter aspect, I guess she is now a little less abrasive, she acknowledges my talent now, after I solved a case in record time." Timmy announced with a bit of pride.

"Oh yes, Timantha murder case, I've read it in the newspaper in the morning, it was a commendable deduction; But my dear friend you need to perform better..." AJ trailed of with a cheeky smile. Chester concluded "You need to perform better in the bed only then she will acknowledge your talent."

"Shut up, you funny rascal." Timmy threw the pillow towards Chester.  
It was almost an eternity when Timmy smiled like a carefree kid, this morning was a much needed reprieve for the stressed Brunet.

 **(She wasn't alone)**

Though today was an off day for Vicki, she had some business to take care of. "Yup, gathering the informations about Monica might throw some light on it. Ricky interrogated them but the details seemed rather unimportant, no harm in cross checking again."

Normally Vicki would have taken out her car for this sort of investigation procedure. She would have gotten the reimbursement for the fuel, previously umpteenth times both she and Ricky took advantage of this policy, going on drive dates while showing them as investigation procedures. Vicki chuckled in her mind, "Man, those were the best days of my life."

Vicki felt the need to use public transport, the idea of being around people doesn't bother her much now, much lesser than that day when she saw his handsome body lifeless.

Dimmsdale Junior high remained open even on Saturdays, though only extracurricular activities were scheduled on Saturday though, she herself was an alumnus of this institution.

The school building looked fairly quite, "Probably due to the impending holidays, there isn't that much rush.", the gate man stopped her, she flashed her id card. The Gate man stood up and saluted her, she nodded in reciprocation.

She strode towards the office. There was a middle aged clerk typing something, the name plate read Kelly Ings. "Excuse me." Vicki flashed her id card, Kelly almost stiffened. "There is no need to freak out, Kelly."

"I'm here to gather some information about your erstwhile employee Monica Petrovich, she was murdered almost a month ago. " Vicki replied.

"Ok, I will try to pull up her file, we recently digitized all our records, so it won't be a problem." Kelly said proudly.

"Here, take this." Kelly handed a printout, Vicki looked it closely "It was the same old information, her date of birth, address, marital status, name, employee id, specialization, etc." Vicki mentally cursed herself.

"Um...I guess police has already took the same piece of information about a month ago." Kelly looked a little annoyed.

Suddenly Vicki asked out of blue, "Did anyone else asked about the same information? Like before the murder?"

Kelly thought for a while, "Now that you ask a peculiar incident happened two months ago. A woman came in and claiming that she owed money for Monica and that we should give her, Monica's permanent address, she sparked up a racket, so to stop her we gave her the address, Monica had this habit of lending and defaulting. "

"Why didn't you inform this in the first inquiry? How did she look?" Vicki asked sternly.

"That detective, what his name was, Ricky...he never asked us this 's why. I'm sorry I can't recall her face but she had black hair, a stylish spectacle and a ponytail." Kelly retorted.

"Damn bitch, if you had told this my Ricky would have been still kicking." Vicki mentally cursed the clerk, "Fine." Vicki left the school building.

On exiting she noticed that the gate man was still there, she called him. He came running and saluted her, "What can I do for you, Mam.?"

"Around one month earlier did a woman came here and created a racket in the office?" Vicki asked.

"Yes Mam., she was a very foul mouthed person, I can't believe that someone of her age can be such disrespectful." The gate man snarled.

"Hmm...how did she look? what was her approximate age?" Vicki was down to business.

"She was not very old, somewhere around thirty, she had black hair, stylish glasses and a ponytail. She had...u know Mam..." The gate man was stuttering and his cheeks gave away his blush.

"Having attractive bodily assets?" Vicki prompted.

"Yes Mam...she had a great body."

"These particulars don't help much, only one thing is sure, somebody tried to sniff out Monica before she was murdered. I guess that is a lead, but is it a tangible lead?" Vicki was brought out of her trance when she felt a light tug on her right hand. A brunet boy with a pink baseball cap and pink tee shirt with puppy eyes asked her "Would you buy pink lemonade from my stall ,miss?"  
On any other day Vicki might have declined but today she was having a lighter mood so she obliged.

She was again dumbstruck on seeing the girl handling the lemonade stand, she was as old as the boy, that is around 10 years, but her looks, her hair style, her glasses, looked exact like her deceased younger sister.  
The young girl welcomed her, "Thanks for choosing our lemonade stall, our speciality is pink lemonade, we charge only 20 cents a glass." The boy let go of her hand and ran towards the girl.  
"I'll take one glass." the kids filled up her glass, she drank it in a gulp. It wasn't a very tasty but what else can be expected from fifth graders.  
She threw them a buck, "Keep the change."

No sooner than she turned around than a ball of paper collided with her forehead. Vicki's trained body instantly alerted her systems an she gave a chase, she had caught the glimpse of the attacker, likely a girl in a hoody.  
Vicki rand towards her with full speed, but that girl was also athletic enough to keep the distance between them. A mother was pushing her child in a perambulator, the attacker shoved the mother and the perambulator got overturned on the road. It was green signal and a car was approaching with good speed. Vicki stopped her pursuit and pulled of the perambulator just in time to save the baby.

The mother was spellbound, she quickly snatched her kid out of the perambulator and hugged him tightle, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Thank you, Thank you very much, you saved my baby, thank you..." The passer by's also joined in the thanksgiving and praising of her gallantry.

"Bastard, pushing a baby to slow me down, wait till I catch you." She opened the paper ball which was thrown at her, "Like father, Like daughter." "She wore gloves, I saw that, taking prints won't matter, this is a printed page, so the person doesn't want me to see her handwriting." Vicki was already in her detective mode.

Vicki asked a passer-by who also witnessed the event, "Did you see her face?"

"Not, exactly. Her face was hidden under a scarf. But I saw sunglasses."

 **( A call** **from the defence lawyer)**

Timmy's phone suddenly started ringing, it was an unknown number. "It's not from office, neither from mom or dad, who the hell is it?"

 _"Hello can I speak with detective Timothy Turner?"_

 _"Yes, speaking."_

 _"I'm Maria Smith, the defence lawyer of Veronica, she wants to give testimony to you."_

 _"Ok,..."_

 _"Actually I"m waiting for you in the Detective department's office."_

 _"Ok, I'm coming."_

"Fucking nutjobs, they all must have conspired to ruin my cherished off day." Timmy cursed his luck again.

On entering his office Timmy noticed a gorgeous woman sitting in front of his desk.

"Hi, I'm Maria Smith. " she held her hand out.

"I'm Timothy Turner." she shook her hand with real hurry.

Timmy and Maria reached the police station where currently Veronica was kept, when Timmy and Maria entered , they came across McCarthy.

"Good day, Detective Tuurner, I guess you came for..." suddenly his eyes bulged in astonishment, "Hey You left only seconds ago." McCarthy was pointing at Maria, who was as surprised as McCarthy.

"Where is Veronica?" Timmy knew he had to act instantly, if his deduction is correct then...

McCarthy led them to Veronica's cell, the trio almost ran towards it. Veronica was sitting on her knees, clenching her throats with her both hands.

"Open the cell, damn it." Timmy cried, McCarty ran out to get the key from the junior inspector.  
Veronica looked at Timmy and Maria, crawled with great difficulty towards Timmy and through the cell bars grabbed Timmy's t-shirt's right sleeve. Within seconds she breathed her last. Timmy checked her pulse, there was none.


	4. Chapter 4:1(Reconciliation)

Vicki was cursing herself, "How the hell, I let her escape? Such a horrible person, throwing a baby to slow me, down." Her phone beeped, "Ha, it's the twerp."  
"What's the matter, twerp?"

...

"What Veronica is poisoned?"

...

"Ok, I'm coming."

"Guess what, now a murder convict dies of poisoning? What the fuck is happening around, these days?" Vicki looked pissed.

 **(Behold)**

On arriving at the station, Vicki noticed a very rare spectacle, newspaper reporters, media persons have thronged the station and the police had to put barricades, to stop them.

"Quite a ruckus, but who the hell leaked it?" Vicki had her doubts, there are sources of News agencies in the department but this is against the protocol to inform such a murder this early.  
A familiar crime reporter of a daily spotted her.  
"Vicki what's happening? Is a prisoner being poisoned? Is the suspect one of the force? " Chet was full of questions.

"Calm down, before I knock you out." Vicki's threat relented Chet, "Who gave you this information, Chet?"

"A stranger called our office and said someone is poisoned, around 30 minutes ago." Chet answered.

"Do, you have their number Chet?" Vicki asked again.

"Absolutely, our office phone had CLI, so we got hold of the number", Chet showed the number to Vicki, who promptly copied it in her smartphone.

"Vicki can I get a scoop, once you crack that case?" Chet looked at her with pleading puppy eyes.

"Yeah; Whatever." Vicki shooed him away and entered the station by flashing her id card.

 **(Inside)**

The crime scene has already been taped by police line and the body was being checked by the forensics.

"The cause of death is severe asphyxiation due to cyanide poisoning. The poison was in the water which she drank from the bottle. On her body there is no trace of poison and no other injuries, her health before the death looked fine."

The forensics officer concluded his initial analysis.

Timmy was deep in thought, while Maria was being ruthlessly interrogated by the cops. Despite having an alibi that she was with Timmy the whole time, some cops had it hard to digest.

"Timmy, do you what's the matter with the racket outside?" a cold voice asked him. Timmy spun around to meet, the pink orbs, dazzling with dissatisfaction.

"Someone might have called the media for some cheap attention." Timmy answered his partner.

"Somebody informed them from a payphone about the incident, so that the investigation can be things first twerp, brief me." Vicki reasoned.

"Again, the twerp is back." Timmy thought, "The incident occurred around 10, when a person who posed as victim's lawyer came to meet her, they chatted for 10 minutes, then that person left..." Vicki interjected "How could you know that she is a poser?"

"Well during the incident, the real lawyer was with me. She came to the office to meet me, Veronica wanted to disclose something very confidential to me, so the lawyer came to get me." Timmy answered.

"So this is a doppelgänger case?" Vicki smiled snobbishly.

"Come again, please?" Timmy had no idea about that term.

"Can't expect any better from you." Vicki mentally face-palmed herself over the lack of her partner's vocabulary. "It's refer to those cases where the culprit takes up the appearance of an innocent person, commits the crime so that the true culprit is never found and the unfortunate person is the scapegoat."

"But, if that's the case then this crime is very peculiar, because the person who was to be framed had an airtight alibi." Timmy looked doubting.

Vicki flashed an haughty smile, "The culprit's only motto was to kill Veronica, so the information remains buried. They weren't focused on making a scapegoat out of Maria. Did she said anything about the testimony?"

"Nope, she only said that Veronica wanted to confess something important; she didn't tell Maria also, so she couldn't furnish anything more." Timmy replied.

"Did she left any dying message or something? You were there at the time of her death?" Vicki asked, the familiar folds on her fore-head is back.

"Nothing particular, she crawled towards us and grabbed the cuff of my right sleeve." Timmy showed the thing.

"What's there, that insignia? it's a lion?" Vicki looked astonished as there was an insignia of a lion on Timmy's cuff.

"She probably wanted to tell me something, that surely can't be a dying message." Timmy tried to shake off the feeling of being inconvenient.

"Did her lips move? Did she tried to utter something?" Vicki was curious.

"Probably not. Fluids and saliva were coming out of her mouth. She couldn't even move her lips." the sudden realization hit Timmy.

Vicki noticed this, "You must be Schroedinger's idiot, being idiotic and intelligent at the same time. Yes that was the dying message."

"If that's the dying message then Veronica must know the culprit personally, even though they disguised themselves as Maria." Vicki nodded, "Twerp, let's check the CCTV footage of the doppelgänger."

The cops have given a reprieve to Maria as her alibi was air tight and especially a police detective testifying for her , her point got only stronger. Now the duo was looking at the CCTV footage, "Stop it and zoom. Timmy look carefully."

Timmy couldn't find any anomaly in the still frame, Vicki again pouted her lips in frustration, "Look at her feet, look at how big heels she is wearing, that woman with heels is as tall as Maria without heels. She is a shorter person, probably around 5'-3"."

"Hey, McCarthy; look into all contacts of Veronica who are around Five feet three and just check whether did anybody called Veronica yesterday or not?" Vicki ordered the inspector.

"Yes, Ma'm." the inspector nodded.

 **(The lunch and Headache)**

"Twerp, you dragged me in this, so you better buy the lunch." Vicki stated in a matter of factly tone.

"I was thinking of making something at home..." he was again being interrupted by Vicki; "No worries, I can live with that."

"Vicki, I wnna ask you something?" Timmy's voice was uncharacteristically cold, "Why are you doing this to me?"

"Your choice twerp, I pick on you or I knock out out cold." Vicki suddenly looked more interested in her finger nails.

"Do, you seriously hate me?" Timmy sighed.

"Yes, I do, now keep moving or I wanna break something." Vicki glared at him.

Timmy hung his head and moved towards his home.

It was a small and hurried endeavour due to the time constraint, Timmy cooked Chicken fried rice for two.

"Hmm, you surely clean your place." Vicki commented on the cleanliness of Timmy's place, Timmy didn't respond.

"Hey, airhead I'm talking to you?" now Vicki was pissed, she didn't like being ignored. Timmy didn't mind her and was busy finishing his bowl.

Suddenly Vicki got up from the table, and yanked Timmy up. "Ignore me once more and you'll envy the dead."

"What else you can do to me? You already knocked me out call me names, you downgrade me at every possible chance. I might not be as good as Ricky, but I'm trying ok..." he sounded almost pathetic.

"Maybe I went little over the top, the twerp seems broken." Vicki mentally censured herself.

"I know you are hurting, I really can't feel your pain, but I only want to help." Timmy's comments were counter productive, "You piece of shit, you think I'm that miserable?" Vicki punched Timmy's left cheek with all her might.  
It was a knockout blow. Bruises formed instantly over his cheek, "Shit I lost it again, why the twerp has to be like this?"

She had already consumed her lunch for free she had no purpose to stay back, especially after the incident, but something held her back. " The twerp might wake up with a headache and a severe bruise, I should probably help him, he didn't deserve this after his hospitality."

Vicki carried him bridal style, "yeah he is amazingly light, doesn't have the muscle mass of Ricky." and set him up in the bed, then used drenched her handkerchief from the tap water and cleaned his bruise. Timmy slowly regained his conciousness, a stingy pain on his left cheek made him wince.

He opened his eyes, to see a very worried Vicki nursing his bruise," You're Schroedinger's hater, you hate and don't hate me at the same time."

Vicki blushed a little, "You got on my nerves, you shouldn't say stuff like that. Though it may sound weird, I don't really enjoy hitting you, even more so recently."

A dusting of pink adorned Vicki's cheeks. Timmy again was mesmerised by her, he never saw her being worried for him, he didn't expected it in the first place. He only expected to wake up all alone, with a throbbing pain.

"So, you're drooling on me again." Vicki comment while nursing his bruise, she has again caught him staring at her face, "Do you like me?"

The question hit like a bullet, he never expected this, from the very first day ha had developed feelings for her, despite her rash and caustic demeanour, the flame is never snuffed out, though dimmed enough to hide in the eternal darkness, now that flame suddenly got some spark infused and rendered the brunet blushing and avoiding eye contact.

"I don't trust people, they took advantage of me when I was weak, they only hurt me when I let my guard down, so I have dulled myself, I hate everything, so nobody dares to cross my path. I only loved one man, who loved me for who I am, never tried to pick faults in me or correct me, my past didn't matter to him, only I was his first priority, now he is no more." a tear escaped Vicki's eyes.

Timmy despite being afraid of Vicki, knew what he needed to do, even if it earned him a punch, He hugged her, "You can trust me, I'll never betray you, I like you."

Vicki didn't mind the hug or first two sentences, but "How could you like me? the same person who treats you like piece of shit? Who might even beat you up for this."

"The truth is stranger than fiction, I know that you have duped in the past, I won't dupe you and I like you a lot."Timmy still held onto the hug.

It seemed familiar, not those touches of the pseudo empathy but of genuine companionship, the feel when Ricky hugged her for the first time. She hugged him even tightly, "I really don't know whether i like you or not, so I'll have to do it."

She let go of the hug and kissed him with full passion, she thrusted her tongue in his mouth, the tried to resist with his tongue but eventually gave in. She liked to be in control and he understood that. She felt the fire again, yet she felt sated. She knew the answer, she broke the kiss and and cooed in his ears seductively "I like you too twerp."

Timmy was astounded, he blurted "Really?"

"Yes for realies." she started to strip Timmy as well as herself, she felt the passion again, she felt like being with Ricky again.

Both of them were stark naked now, she slowly mounted on him, holding his hands, kissing him wildly. She thrusted her hips against him, he responded by thrusting his erect member in her. It felt great, it felt liberating.


	5. Chapter 4:2(Realizations)

Timmy woke up with a sharp pain in his left cheek. He also felt a cool touch on it as if somebody put an antiseptic cream on the bruise. The events came back to his mind, he was fully clad and there was no sign of any activity being taken place.  
He found a sticky note on the table, which read, "I did it again; knocked you out. You have to understand when to shut your stupid mouth. Ps-I've applied some antiseptic cream on your bruise and lifted you to your, bed. Your apartment has yale lock, so it won't be an issue."

Timmy smiled sadly, "So it was all my pent up fantasy. It never happened, I dreamt about it when I was out cold. Guess Chester was right." It was already 6 in the evening. He had to make preparations for the dinner.

 **(Vicki's problems)**

"Why he has to be such an idiot? Can't he realize that he sucks at comforting me? How many times I've to hit him so it goes through his thick skull?" Vicki was boiling in anger over the recent encounter with her partner.  
"He wasted a great deal of our time, we could have thought up a plan and got some more leads but no he had to act all high and mighty, serves him right." Vicki was never wrong in her own eyes. She often did made other's miserable but never felt guilty for it. She knew that hard choices are to be made and blood has to shed, but not her's. She was hard-wired in this way, that's why only Ricky could break through, only he could reach her.

"Now I should be focusing on the case. The doppelgänger surely poisoned her, while she offered her water. Now the culprit wanted to silence Veronica so that beans aren't spilled. But how could they know that Veronica was going to spill the beans? What the hell she was going to confess?"

It appeared in her mind in an instant, "Hmm, now I get it, Veronica didn't plan the murder in the first place somebody planned it for her. When Veronica wanted to spill the beans she was silenced. Fair enough, but how the culprit knew she was going to blabber up? Why Veronica didn't say anything when we caught her?"

Vicki took out her cell-phone and wrote an email to the service provider of Veronica's cell phone, demanding the call records for the last one month.

"I don't feel like cooking anything and I can't go back to the twerp, he is probably out cold." Vicki took out her hoody, it was quite chilly for mid September.

Vicki was mindfully finishing her pizza, though the taste was average, but to a hungry person any edible thing tastes like nectar and she was damn hungry in the first place. So when her phone beeped, she was quite flustered as her hands were busy.

She finished the pizza and pulled out her phone, the provider has already emailed her all the numbers dialled from Veronica's phone. Most of the numbers were her of her colleagues and contacts, only one number looked unidentified. It didn't belong to anybody on her contact list. Suddenly a plan appeared on the back of her mind and with a very innocent face he approached the customer sitting at the next table.

"Excuse me sir, my balance has run out, can I borrow your phone for a second?" the request was coupled with a very angelic smile and a sugary façade which Vicki are Vicki's signature move to get a favour out of complete strangers.

The man fell Victim to her class act, she dialled the number, a female voice asked

"Who is this?"

Vicki replied in an innocent voice,

"Sorry Miss Amanda, your order wouldn't be delivered within another week."

"What the heck, it's a wrong number." the person sounded grumpy.

"Sorry my bad."

She ended the call, "Good thing that his mobile has this recording feature, now I just need to send it via blue-tooth, yup done." She handed back the mobile to the unsuspecting person with a very sweet smile and extravagantly praising his selfless kindness.

Vicki returned home like a victor, "Ah, now I need to call the up the cyber cell, they will perform a search of this voice on Veronica's contact number was contacted by her once every day in last week, it's surely an important for her or became important in the recent past."

 **(Cyber fibre)**

Vicki had a quite a cordial relationship with the cyber cell, they had helped her big-time in a couple of cases in the past. So when Vicki asked their favour to sample out all the vooices from Veronica's contact list and then match it with the voice which she recorded previously, they obliged.

"It would take some time, Vicki. I'll give you the results tomorrow asap." Bill Vardy assured.

"I'm counting on you guys." Vicki encouraged the geeks of the department.

 **(With Timmy)**

"I've learnt my lesson. She hates me, she doesn't desire my assistance, she is fine all alone. Her relationship with me is strictly professional and it should remain so." Timmy chastised his mind. He wanted to clamp down the amorous fluttering in his chest due to his partner's presence.

"The pain is almost gone and the bruise is fading out. So I guess it's ok." Timmy thought before entering the big building, his department is on the 7th floor.

"Morning." Vicki wished him without taking her eyes off the case files.

"Same to you." Timmy replied and dragged out his chair.

Suddenly the phone on his desk rang violently, he received it.

"Vicki we have to move, there's been an incident in 3rd Broad Street." Vicki's eyes lit up, just like a hound picking up the scent of a rabbit.


	6. Chapter 5: A new case and new ways

**(20 years ago, somewhere in Himalayas)**

She wasn't one of them, she looked nothing like them. Her facial features differed from them, her skin tone differed from them, despite that they worshipped her like their Goddess. It might be an act of worship for them but it was painful for her. They said that she was the gift from the heavens, she was the power incarnate and believed to be the human incarnation of the a ferocious Goddess.  
She never had a chance to play with the' mortal' kids, she was never allowed to set a foot out side the temple, she wore the finest cloths of the village, she got the best food as the offering. She was truly treated as a Goddess in that secluded mountainous village. Still she was never over awed, still it didn't hurt her till that day. The head priest came rushing in and declared, "Mother, there's one thing this mortal needs to convey. Your back has to be tattooed, it's a divine disposition symbolising your power."

That day she felt pain as she was stripped of her cloths and a female elderly tattoo artist of the village tattooed a lion on her back, and then she worshipped her as the Goddess incarnate.  
The more astounding thing happened 7 days later, at the autumn new moon festival.  
The villager sacrificed around 100 goats and buffalos and offered the sacrifices to their young goddess. She had to spend the whole long night with the room full of slaughtered animals.  
The coppery smell of blood was new to her, first it was repulsing, but the familiarity made it easier for her, the villagers hadn't offered her any food as she was already offered sacrifices.

Hunger can't be bounded by anything, the thought might have repulsed her 12 hours ago but now that seemed the only option, her throat was dried due to thrust, her stomach crunched due to hunger. "I'm the Goddess incarnate, I will eat my sacrifices."

She bit through the skinned raw flesh of the animals, it felt great soon she got accustomed with the animalistic smell. The blood of the sacrifices was also offered to her in a pot, She drank deeply from it.

She was the goddess of power and justice, she was the goddess of revenge. She was beyond the law of men, she was power unbound this tiny village wasn't her place, the whole world is there for her taking.

 **(Current day, Dimmsdale Zoo)**

"What the hell, did happen here?" Timmy Turner was pissed. The first thing he wanted to see in the morning was a corpse. Being a police detective only worsened his owes.

The local police official Paul Dost briefed the detective duo, "The victim Mr. Winston Dunsworth, was stabbed to death near the Leopard section around 10.30. We have no eyewitness, only his portion of the ticket is found in his pant's pocket. The security cam got no footage of him with any other person. The knife was stuck on his chest and we got no finger prints on it."

Dost took a moment to breathe in. "Though we recovered his wallet and his smart phone." Dost ended his briefing.  
Vicki kneeled down beside the corpse and smelt something, "Timmy come here and smell."

Timmy felt like an idiot to sniff around a deadbody like a police dog, but defying Vicki was currently out of question.

Timmy smelt, it was a faint aromatic smell of a feminine perfume.

"Hmm…..got it?" Vicki asked.

"He was here with a girl." Timmy replied.

"Not only that, the smell of the perfume is coming from his shoulder and knees. Women generally prefer to put perfume on their necks or collars and on the end of their skirts. Judging from the Victims height, the girl friend is around 5'-2" , probably still in this , call every contact on his call list and check where they are also call his work place for more info on him." Vicki was on the top gear.

Timmy was again feeling the same flutter in his chest, whenever he sees Vicki in action he falls in love with her, momentarily he forgets about the caustic relationship which he shares with her.

"Don't look at me like a stupid high schooler." Vicki smiled at him haughtily. She lowered her face towards his ears, "I know I'm a fine specimen of the feminine race, but we are also on a case, so jack off on me before bedtime, k."  
A slap should have hurt less, but who can deny destiny. Vicki liked to tease Timmy at every possible opportunity, the best option for Timmy was to digest the insult, accepting it will portray him as pervert and being defiant will also make him an idiot.

"Detective, Valentine, these people from his contact list were also present here."  
He pointed at two women and one man. The man was wearing a collar which spondylitis patients do wear. The man was in late twenties, so were the both women. The taller woman was dressed in jeans and T-shirt while the other was clad in a black top and leather mini skirt and high heeled boots.

Vicki locked her eyes on the shorter woman, and asked "You must be the girlfriend of the victim, enlighten me on his premature demise, will you?"

The woman named Miia Doma replied, "I wasn't with him at the time of his murder, please believe me."

"Where were you at that time? How are you so sure that he was murdered when you weren't there?"

"I had a fight with him so I went for the avian show while he lazed around the leopard arena. After the show was over suddenly I heard a commotion from the leopard arena, I rushed here to only to find him dead." Miia replied.

"But he was your boyfriend, why didn't you testified to officer Dost in the first place?" Vicki asked the obvious follow up question.

"I was going to break up with that jerk, so I didn't want to entangle myself in the investigation." Miia bluntly replied.

"But, that doesn't spare you from being a suspect." Vicki sternly replied.

"Now how are you related with him?" Vicki asked the man.

Kimihito Kurusu replied "That man used to be the boyfriend of my current girlfriend. He would often phone her and irritate her despite her warnings so I phoned him and gave a talking to him this morning."

"Hmm. Who is your girlfriend?" Vicki asked the protective boyfriend.

Kimihito pointed towards the taller woman, "She is my girlfriend. Rachnia Arania."

Vicki turned towards the taller woman, "So this Winston guy was your irritating ex?"

Rachnia replied with sigh, "Yes, he was. Despite our breakup he used to phone me and irritate me, I warned him but it didn't even make him stop. I was so afraid that I had to buy a stun gun for my safety. Even today he tried to talk dirty with me. My honey gave him a talking to." Rachnia's eyes glowed with pride when she mentioned the valiant intervention of Kimihito.

"That makes all of you, potential assailants. " Timmy complemented the procedure.

The three cried in unison, "I was at the parrot show during 10.30-11. I have proof. I have a video of the event in my phone."

"Ok; officer Dost we can check up on the suspects, just tell the Zoo authorities to arrange a room." Vicki ordered.

Suddenly something felt out of place for Timmy, he again strode towards the corpse and checked the neck region; there were two small burn marks around 1 inch apart.

"Probably, Vicki has already figured out the culprit." Timmy strode towards the empty stop gap investigation room. Suddenly something attracted Timmy's sight. A polythene bag is popping out from the waste basket but such bags aren't used in this zoo. An intrigued Timmy looked it closely, it was soaked in blood. Timmy called the forensic team immediately.

Vicki was currently viewing the videotapes. "Hmm…one of them looks fishy."

Timmy entered with a smile, "Vicki, I have found a bloodstained polythene bag. The blood is of Winston's."

"Good work, it was used to stop the blood splattering , this is a well planned murder." It was very rare that Vicki complimented her partner, Timmy felt little buoyant.

" , you must be a well trained photographer, because out of all three videos yours is the best." Vicki asked with a stern look.

"Well I'm a trained photographer, despite spondylitis my hands are still working, so it's not an issue for me." Pride oozed out of his eyes.

"Generally when we take videos of events, people generally don't pass by our cameras. Infact in Kimihito and Miia's videos I've seen many people stopping in their tracks when they thought that they were causing inconvenience, but in Rachnia's video ,people promptly passed blocking her video. Also, Ms. Rachnia's Video and Kimihito 's video never focused on the same thing. Can you explain that ? Maybe you were busy, stunning a certain Winston?"  
The dangerous edge is back in Vicki's voice; Timmy almost suppressed the urge of laughing after looking at 's expression. He thought, "Man, she might just wet her panties."

"I can explain that." Vicki promptly switched on the video mode and put her own mobile in fold of Kimihito's cap to demonstrate her point.

"Ms. Rachnia, you planted your phone at Kimihito's cap like this and put it on video mode, as the colour of your phone and his cap matched, it was a great blind spot to hide it and record the event for your alibi. You weren't present there at that time of the performance." Vicki was like firing bullets at her.

A twisted smile appeared over Rachnia's face, "It's only a theory, there's no proof. You can say what you want. It's a democracy after all."

"Well, would you open your gloves ? I really like their textures." Now Vicki smiled sadistically.

Rachnia's face became bloodless, then she knelt down on her knees, "Damn, when honey filmed me for a brief moment I couldn't stop him from doing so. I love him just too noticed the change of the colour of my gloves."

"Your gloves can be used by both sides as you changed their sides then you are hiding something, probably the victim's blood. Maybe the polythene bag was just not enough." Vicki smile like a victor.

"You are right detective." Rachnia took of her gloves and showed the blood stain, "He was such a jerk. He took advantage of my bondage fetish, took some pictures of me in a compromising position. Now he was blackmailing me over those. Today we fixed this spot for our trade; I silenced him by using my stun gun and then stabbed that bastard." Rachnia broke down, crying. Officer Dost took her in custody.

"Did you wanna grab some lunch, twerp?" Vicki was in a merry mood.

"Why not? You surely did great today, you cracked the case in no time." Timmy replied.

"Still you figured it out as quickly as me, especially finding the polythene bag was great; there are times I think you are good enough when you don't act like a twerp, you just look too similar….you heard nothing." The dangerous edge was back again.

"Man, she surely likes me and getting herself beat up on idea of liking me." Timmy mentally chuckled.

"Timmy, you need to know something about that Monica Petrovich case, that woman testified about my father's adultery to my mother. " Vicki stated devoid of any emotion. "By now you must know that my father was the damned convict Richard Valentine who killed her wife and little daughter, as my mom found about his affair."

"She has really some hard life, that's why she is like this, I should be a more lenient about her." Timmy mentally noted.

Vicki stated on, "When I went to Dimmsdale Junior high to inquire about Monica, they stated that a woman around two month ago came to take her address, she claimed to be a creditor on whom Monica has defaulted, when I investigated more from Monica's loan statements I got the name of a Cordellia Gallo. But a she did commit suicide as she couldn't get back her loans from Monica.

The corpse of the Pizza guy whom we recovered on the same day, was the only son of Cordellia Gallo." Vicki's voice became a little heavier as again she was reminded of Ricky.

"So we need to look into Cordellia's son's belongings as well as Ricky's notes. We might get some lead." Timmy suggested.

"For Cordellia's son's it's not an issue, but you know twerp Ricky's notes will be a waste of time. He totally relied on his homeless children information network." Vicki sounded little bitter.

"Going through Ricky's stuff will be harder for her, I'll deal with it." Timmy thought.


	7. Chapter 7: New dimensions

**(The requiem of an operative)**

It has been almost ten months for her. These ten months gifted her astoundingly new opportunities to sharpen herself. She herself wouldn't have believed in that much transformation. Just a few weeks ago she was an average nerdy high school girl, still she had one thing at her disposal a very sharp mind. But that jock in her class underestimated her, made romantic advances towards her. She declined with dignity yet the fool pressed in, when his devout friend tried to reason with him he was left beaten. She knew she had to pull the trigger, but not a single soul could figure this.  
She befriended the big bundle of testosterone, the jock thought it was his due. He was too idiot to suspect anything else. She gained his confidence and then one day when he was up against a very rough soccer team, she tampered with his boots; to gain his trust she had to gave up her virginity but the focus on the end result kept her moving.

The result was imminent a sharp tackle and his career ended with a compound fracture. At that day she laughed while taking a bath in her home, she felt exhilarated, "Revenge is surely the best antidote of depression."

The next day she got a letter without any postal stamps, her name was written on the envelope, it was hand written. It read "I know your dirty secret, to redeem you, let's meet at 7th Robins street in the evening."

She was terrified there wasn't any address 7th Robin street, it's her code word for a very special place which only she herself knew , if somebody had something on her, then divulging that in a particular person would left her terribly screwed. She had to silence this nuisance, to threaten that person she took a box cutter and walked towards the given destination.  
She never assumed to face this sort of a situation in her worst nightmare, a person clad in a Japanese kimono and a stage mask was sitting on the other end of the table. She welcomed her, "You can throw off your box cutter, that thing won't work against me."

She panicked, how could this woman even know about her weapon?

"I'm a living goddess, nothing of this human realm is beyond my knowledge." she could hear that this masked woman is laughing at her bewilderment.

"But my child you have a great potential, I know you have done that to avenge your friend but that's still a hell worthy vice, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself by serving me." er voice has a dangerous edge, which implied disobedience'll be dealt severely.

She was trying to run herself out of this situation, suddenly she was kicked in her shins and with a lightning speed that woman took out her box cutter from her pocket, "No need to run my child, you are the chosen one, destined to be the general of this Goddess."

"Now let's make a pact shall we?" her voice meant that she wouldn't take no for an answer. She obliged, the woman made a slim laceration on her right index finger, and also made one in her right hand. Then she fused their blood. A cold chill ran down her spine.

Then her training began, how to be a lethal weapon. She was given the sacred teachings of becoming a ninja. She was trained in hand to hand combat and martial arts, wielding sharp weapons, and fusing a killing instinct in her every move. She now had become the ultimate weapon; sharp mind only added to her ammo. She had become the most cunning and ruthless assassin.

She had already killed many, who dared to stand up to her goddess, or the one who became astray.

 **(Brian Gallo)**

Getting a search permit for Brian's room was a very easy thing to deal with. It had already been two days from that stabbing case from the Zoo.

"I think the twerp saw it through, the last thing that I want now is going through Ricky's stuff. I'm sure the twerp will find something interesting. There had to be a reason why Ricky deliberately put me out of his investigation." Vicki muttered to herself while searching through Brian Gallo's stufff. She was the son of the lender Cordellia Gallo who committed suicide after she was unable to get the money back from Monica.  
His personal informations, his academic certificates, his porn collection everything got dug up by Vicki but nothing of value popped up.

Suddenly Vicki saw a new diary, "Who the hell was investigating this room? Probably the numbnut Kowalski, how could they ignore this diary.?" She flipped open the pages, it was more like a personal diary though the entries were fairly irregular.

The penultimate entry read "I know why Maman, committed suicide, that witch Monica she didn't return our money. I'll not leave her alone. I'll make her life a living hell."

The ultimate entry was more ominous , "I've the goddess of justice on my side. Now nobody can stop me from avenging Maman."

"Hmm..Maman means mom, but who the hell is this goddess and most importantly what is her role in Monica's murder?" Vicki asked herself.

"Brian didn't seem to be religious at all, I'm yet to find a crucifix over here, still I need to verify this." Vicki stormed out from the abandoned house.

 **(The dead detective's deed)**

Timmy expected this, the organization of the stuff over the table indicated that this belonged to a tidy and smart man. Only out of place issue were the thick coat of dust on the things.

Timmy looked around and got hold of an exercise book, it was much less dusted than the others. "Ricky must have written something current in this." Timmy reasoned.

Timmy opened up the book only to find a picture of a red headed man of his thirties with a blonde short woman around thirty, stuck at the first page. The man looked oddly familiar, the heading beneath the picture read, "Picture of Richard Valentine with Cordellia Gallo in Venice. Taken from the photo album of Monica Petrovich."

There was a picture of a woman around fifty, the heading read, "Cordellia Gallo, owned a lot of debt from Monica. Committed suicide after Monica didn't return her money."

Then there was another picture of a Blond boy who looked oddly like Richard, "Brian Gallo, only son of Cordellia Gallo. Was an eye-witness in Monica Petrovich murder. Is currently missing from work, whereabouts unknown?"

There were questions on the third page,"Brian has a motive but what was the trick? How could he pull it off? If he pulled it off then why is he hiding now? Who was the young girl who ordered pizza?"

The fourth page described possible tricks that could have been used to kill Monica, but everyone was deemed unrealistic by Ricky himself.

The fifth page read, "Clyne has some news. He has seen Brian Gallo coming out from this place, 7 Timothy Drake alley, two days before the murder. He said that he can fix a meeting the person who is currently using that area.

The last thing sent chills across Timmy's back, "So that's how it was. Ricky got dangerously close to the main person, the director of this murderous play."  
"He surely loved her with all his heart, that's why he kept her out of this case. The truths would have weighed too much on her." Timmy sighed.

 **(Den of the devil)**

When Vicki proposed that they should theorize this whole case in her apartment, Timmy felt little shocked. Vicki was a no nonsense person. That sort of people never drag their work home.

Vicki sensed his doubts, "Those issues are too touchy to even discuss here. That's why."

Vicki's apartment didn't look that much out of ordinary, the hall was moderate, her dining space and kitchen was also big so was her bedroom. The thing attracted his attention was the size of her bed, it was one of those queen sized beds. A family of three can entirely fit in that bed.

"So twerp first things first, then you can drool on the prospect of getting an invitation for me." Vicki said with a chuckle, Timmy smiled in return.

He handed Ricky's notebook to Vicki. Vicki read it with un-fazed eyes and great intent. The frowns were back, she ended the reading.  
"That's why he kept me out cause it involved some very inconvenient character traits of my dad." Vicki sighed, "Such an idiot."

"We found Clyne's body with a rotting corpse of Brian. That means, that person already set the trap for Ricky and killed him. That same person helped Brian to kill Monica using a trick and when Ricky closed on Brian they also killed him." Vicki clenched her teeth.

"Guess what twerp, that Brian Gallo was a convinced atheist yet he refers someone as the goddess and even seeks her help to exert revenge on Monica. This Goddess is probably the same person who killed both Brian and Ricky." Vicki sighed.

"But we have no proof against the owner of 7 Timothy Drake alley." Timmy cried in frustration.

"Do you know twerp, there's a payphone in Timothy Drake street and Veronica received as many as 10 calls from that payphone." Vicki chuckled.

"That means, that so called Goddess also helped Veronica with her planning but when she rebelled, she also poisoned her by using a double of her lawyer." Timmy added.

"There was another unidentified number from which Veronica was called but now it exists no more and the phone was registered under the name of Cordellia Gallo." Vicki stated excitedly.

"That means we are up against a person who plans murders for a fee and silences her clients if they try to tell on her. Goes by the name goddess, probably has a hideout in 7 Timothy Drake street. How about we pay them a visit?" Vicki suggested.

"Fine, it's only 6.30 now, it won't be that much of an issue." Timmy seconded the proposal.

 **(The hideout)**

It was around seven when the duo reached at the given spot, on the way they also came across the ominous phone. On reaching the destination the duo was again astonished, it was drawing school. Aparently some artist had rented it recently and set up his studio and a drawing school for the kid, but the owner of that plot informed, before the artist that same rooms was rented by a mysterious woman who was an oriental astrologer, she always wore a kimono and a Japanese mask. Nobody saw her without the mask; though owner even verified that he had seen Veronica coming out from there, when Timmy showed him, her photo.

Timmy asked, "Why the hell did you rent to a person, who never showed her face?"\

"Well,she splashed 10 kilos on me. So what else I can do?" the owner tried defend himself.

"Though we couldn't catch them but at least when we showed him Veronica's photo a good info came out." Timmy wasn't much disappointed for their apparent blank fire.

"Get back twerp." Vicki was again switched on to her gloomy mode.

"Twerp, I wanna drink. Do you wanna be my drink buddy for tonight?" Vicki asked in a very demanding tone.

"Fine, what'll be there? Gin?Vodka?" Timmy asked.

"Nope, Scotch, that was his favourite." Vicki replied.

"She must be very troubled by now, despite the lead we couldn't catch the culprit, I'm pretty sure that she is beating herself up on that and getting drunk to drown her sorrows." Timmy became little sad.

Upon reaching the apartment, the duo came in and settled themselves down. Vicki prepared the drinks ans the two detectives gulped their liquor simultaneously. It was almost 6 pegs down, Timmy by no means was a light weight but his head felt little heavy and fuzzy.

"Hey, twerp...do you realize your statuss...?" Vicki was drunk yet the seductive tone was very much making Timmy hot.

"You, are good...you look like him, you talk like him and even you care for me like him...why you can't be a man like him?" Vicki was clearly drunk and Timmy knew that a wrong step now and he might envy the dead.

Vicki strode towards him with drunken steps, "You, I like you. Are you big enough? Sir Twerrp?" She pushed Timmy over the bed and started undressing him. He tried to resist, but apparently a drunken Vicki was stronger than a sober Vicki.

"Yay...you're hard. I'll ride now, run run my horse." Vicki rode on his erect member and moved her hips wildly.

The ecstasy blinded Timmy, soon his senses became numb.


	8. Chapter 8:Let there be light

Timmy was currently contemplating his fate, sleeping with her is one thing and sleeping with her while she was drunk is a really different ball game.  
"What it's gonna be this time? Punches, kicks or her discarded baseball bat?" Timmy knew a severe injury might just wait for him, currently he was searching for an opening , a slight chance and he would sneak out of his grasp like what Leo Messi does in Barcelona for a living. Suddenly he felt more pressure on his torso, Vicki won't let go of her new-found teddy bear. She mumbled in sleep,"Ricky, don't go. I love you." And grabbed Timmy more tightly.

Timmy was now wide awake , seeing the sleeping beauty kept his mind away from negative thoughts.  
"Surely she is in peace, but have I taken advantage of her? I could have pushed her off? Though she was strong I should've held my ground." Timmy was in two minds, he was having a hard time to cope up with the inflow of information.  
"She has no feeling for me, she saw me as his substitute and that's all. There's nothing between us absolutely nothing." It was already morning and the birds were chirping jubilantly, the sleepy world was awakening itself to sped through another day.  
Suddenly he felt a violent nudge on his back, "Twerp, what the hell are you doing in my bed? And why I'm naked, and you're also…" she trailed of, the realization hit her like a ton of speeding bricks.  
"Don't tell me, don't fucking tell me that I did it with you?" her eyes were glaring, Timmy's face paled.  
"Um..Vicki you were drunk and I was also not in my fullest …" She choked him and shook him violently, "Just because I forced you, that doesn't mean you had to comply? You fucker." She threw him off the bed, he landed with a big thud on the floor.

"Man, that hurt. Why she have to be like this? Nobody beats up their partner for pillow talk." suddenly he realised his mistake," I deserve this fair and square, I'm not her partner after all."

"Get out, get out or else..." Vicki ran towards her kitchen while clad in the bedsheet, to his dismay she looked cute, damn cute. Still running for his life was his prime task now. He managed to salvage his clothes from the floor and went out without a protest."Now she'll hate me for an eternity."

 **(In her mind)**

"How can the twerp do something like that? He really has a death wish." Vicki was fuming from the fact that Timmy has taken advantage of her being intoxicated.  
"Just wait, I'll call some of my contacts and make sure he is beaten to a coma." She was going for her smart phone, suddenly it came back to her mind, "Nah, I'll let the twerp live, I know his resemblance with Ricky was the trigger and he is such a chicken to stand up against me. Though it felt good, maybe I needed that little booster." Vicki reasoned in her mind, "But I'll make him suffer even more in other ways." She smiled sadistically.

 **(On the way )**

"Oi, Timmy, Good morning. What happened?You look wasted." The sharp feminine voice hooked Timmy out of his thoughts. It was Heather in a Jogging suit. Her curvy body was very prominent due to choice of her clothing and her posture.  
"Morning, Heather; Nothing just some night duty stuff."Timmy lied.  
"No worries, if it's girl trouble you can share it with me."Heather looked a bit inquisitive.  
"Nothing of that sort, It's only a petty stakeout." Timmy tried his best.  
"So you need to use feminine body sprays for stakeouts?" Heather said rather teasingly.  
Timmy knew that he was busted; Vicki generally uses a vast amount of body spray. "Heather, I'm awfully tired, so if you don't mind?" Timmy almost pleaded.  
"No problems, senior; but if you are in search of some amour then you know where to find me." She jogged off while shaking her butt in a sexually arousing way.

"What a day." Timmy sighed, the morning didn't showed him any good signs.

 **(In the office)**

Vicki had already come in. Timmy was yet to come.  
"Focus, mind. Focus. Forget that stuff, we need to catch the killer." She reprimanded her mind when it wandered off to the events of yesterday night.  
"So, Brian Gallo was helped in the murder of Monica, the phone records of Brian also verified that he was phoned from that payphone just like Veronica. But how Monica was killed and who killed Brian and Veronica? Did Veronica's dying message meant something?" these questions pondered on her mind.  
"I'll again go through the belongings of Monica."

Timmy knew that there'll be severe repercussions and he was reading himself for another phase of pure pain and agony. He was fairly surprised to see Vicki's desk empty.  
"She has come for sure, Her ipod is over the desk so clearly she has arrived." Timmy sighed and sat on his desk and lingered through the files, suddenly he remembered the little show Heather in the morning. "Man she is hotter than Vicki, probably I'll pay her a visit when I visit that wretched mall, thanks to that idiot valley girl…wait a second." something very important crossed his mind. "Veronica grabbed the lion's logo in my shirt. That's surely her dying message, now I've seen a lion somewhere, somewhere, but why the hell I can't remember?" Timmy was frustrated.

Vicki was searching through Monica's diary, she was hopeful to stumble upon a clue, but much to her dismay, till now her search bore no tangible fruit.  
"Nothing useful, only financial transactions wait what the hell is this? "Vicki was dumbstruck.  
This entry wasn't like the other entries, it read,  
"Cost of the props + 1 bottle of haemoglobin: $50." Vicki almost snatched the post-mortem report of Monica, "Yup, there were traces of raw haemoglobin found in her body. This was so simple, why I couldn't think of it early?" Vicki groaned in frustration.  
"But Ricky should notice this, why he didn't…." suddenly it snapped in her head. She hurried over to Ricky's drawer and pulled out his secret diary, which he maintained till his death; even she wasn't allowed to touch it. She opened it(she knew the combinations,it was her date of birth), the writing was fresh but the words didn't make any sense, Vicki smiled "Smarty-pants." She took it to the wash-room and opened it in front of a mirror.

"The haemoglobin on her cloths make no sense, the only conclusion that I can draw is, that she already played dead while putting haemoglobin in her cloths. Probably to prank the pizza guy but the prop pistol lying in front of her was changed by a real pistol and when the pizza guy and the watch man broke in this spectacle bewildered the watchman. The pizza guy made him to inform the police; meanwhile he shot Monica using the pistol and disposed of his gloves by throwing them in the burning fireplace. Now I desperately need to get that pizza guy but he is missing, probably hiding or worse already killed. Now to pull this off, he needs an accomplice, someone who can convince Monica to prank the pizza guy in this way, probably the girl in the hoody whom Clyne saw spying on the room from the rooftop opposite to Monica's apartment while I was busy investigating. Probably Clyne's contact can help in this regard, she boasts herself as the modern era Sherlock Holmes."

Rickiy's note ended there, Vicki was bewildered. "That person set up Clyne to lure in Ricky and then killing him and lastly killing Clyne to cover it up. Scoundrels."  
"Now, this modern day Sherlock Holmes, Clyne's contact has to be sniffed out. They hold the key to solve this mystery." Vicki got up from the chair.

"Umm….Vicki, a case has happened." Timmy walked in.

 **(The fetishist)**

"Apparently a young woman by the name Dona Tina has fallen from a building to her death." Timmy briefed Vicki.  
"So we are asked to decide whether it's a suicide or foul play." Vicki sneered.  
Upon reaching the crime scene the duo went up to the dead body. "Detective Valentine, Detective Turner, nice to meet you. The victim Dona Tina has fallen from the rooftop of this building of "Hexagon group." Under mysterious circumstances, there was no eye witness. " the young policeman briefed the detective duo.

"Anybody could have pushed her and then gotten out of the premises, it doesn't even have security in the main door." Timmy asserted.  
"Hey, officer, who handles the keys of that rooftop?" Vicki asked the police officer ignoring Timmy.  
"That rooftop is only for the use of the employees, even she was one of the employees." The officer asserted.  
Vicki strode towards, to the body, it was fine curvy woman's body. The death was due to severe head injury and blood loss, her face has been bloodied and wrecked. Suddenly something caught Vicki's attention, "Hey what's there?" she pointed towards the bag lying around the body.  
"Vicki, there's a wig and two new leather boots and a bra." Timmy replied after checking through the things. He had already worn his gloves, he knew the standard procedure.  
"What's in the fist?" Vicki forced open the clenched right fist of the dead body , it had a button.

"Twerp, we need to pay a visit to the employees." Vicki smiled sadistically.  
The duo went in for the elevator to reach the main office of the Company in the fifth floor.

"Twerp, you're not allowed in the elevator. Take the stairs." Vicki ordered sternly.  
Timmy had to oblige like a obedient boy, he didn't want to cross the almost pissed Vicki.  
For the current case Timmy knew the culprit surely will miss one of their shirt buttons. If Culprit's fingerprint is found on it there will be no scope of denying.

Timmy reached the fifth floor, exhausted while Vicki was already there waiting for him.  
The duo entered the office, the employees were sitting around a round table and discussing about the mysterious demise of their young and curvy colleague.

Vicki kicked open the door to see the whole scenario and then announced, "Your Colleague was murdered; the murderer left a button on the crime scene."

Suddenly an elderly man checked his shirt collar Vicki strode to him, "You seem to miss a button of your shirt, man you're a clumsy criminal." Vicki sneered.

"What the fuck you are talking about lady? Who the fuck are you?" the man screamed at the top of his lungs. Suddenly Vicki took the flower vase in her hand and poured all the water in it on the mans back. The man was drenched and under his drenched shirt a frilly strapless bra was spotted.

"She was your dominatrix while you were a cross dressing fetishist. She started blackmailing you so you pushed her from the rooftop." Vicki coldly stated.

One of the employees screamed, "The manager came little late in the meeting, just after he came we heard the commotion that somebody fell down."

The manager was on his knees, "I didn't intend to kill her, I just pushed her due to my was my SM partner, but currently she was mulching me."  
Timmy handcuffed the man and then asked, "How did you know that he was a cross dresser?"  
"Very easy, she had big hair so the wig would have been unnecessary to her and the leather boots were two size higher. So they were intended for someone else." Vicki sneered cheekily.

The case was solved within thirty minutes, the detectives were driving back to their head quarters, suddenly Vicki stated, "Don't beat yourself up, this is your first mistake so I forgave you, next time, I won't be so merciful. "she bared her shark teeth to intimidate him.

It worked, "I'm sorry. The next time it won't happen. I'll control myself." Timmy apologized with sincerity

"So you're saying that you were out of control yesterday and took advantage of me?" Vicki smirked.

Timmy sighed,

"BTW twerp, you are quite huge. I had a great time so thank you for that, but …" she smiled evilly at him , he flinched.  
"You look too cute when you are afraid, twerp." Vicki smiled with a wink.


	9. Chapter 9: The memories and a Goddess

**(2 days later)**

She was anxious, this wasn't her intention. She believed in her, yet why can't she undoubtedly carry out her Goddess's errands? Is this a test or something else?  
Her goddess had a bunch of powers and being perceptive topped her charts.  
"Tell me my child, what's bugging you?"The kimono clad and mask wearing woman, asked her knelt down devotee.

"My Goddess, I'm feeling very uncomfortable about this recent rise in murders. I'm sensing some evil at work." The kneeling woman replied.

"My child, you've nothing to worry about. You've done your duty with utter perfection. I'm pleased on you." The Goddess moved her left leg seductively and dragged it over the face of her devotee delicately.  
Her senses shivered, she felt like the energy of universe entering in her body through the touch of her Goddess.

She bowed her head, "But Goddess, that sinner girl, she was poisoned just before she was going to open her mouth."

A cruel smile appeared on the Goddess's lips, though she quickly hid it, "I knew that she would be punished for her sins, that's why I told you to keep an eye on her and let me know about her sufferings, but the cosmic justice has acted. It's beyond your realms to comprehend."  
The lady bowed down again, not noticing her Goddess's facial expressions.  
"Now, rest my child, you're excused from the daily duties." The Goddess excused her devotee.

 **(15 minutes later)**  
"She is on the verge of becoming corrupt. We have to save her soul. Within two days she'll be in a birthday party of a senator party, you will liberate her then and there, but be cautious, the red bitch and her brown pup'll try to foil your plans." The goddess told the operative kneeling in front of her.

The operative knew what to do, she had full allegiance to her Goddess, the one who saved her from becoming astray.

 **(Unexpected invitation)**  
Timmy never imagined this in his wildest of the dreams. Getting an invitation for Heather's 25th birthday was like a little shock to him. Heather was only a new acquaintance, not even a friend of him, yet getting invited on her birthday was astonishing. Though it never meant that Timmy didn't like being astonished, in-fact he relished this one.

"Man such a damn hottie inviting me on her birthday, it must mean something, I must have captured her imagination. They say that girls love to tease the guys whom they like. Probably she likes me."  
Timmy took a spare condom in his purse, his sixth sense indicated something'll surely pop tonight.

It was much a lonely party, truth to be told Timmy was the only guest.  
"Umm…..I'm not from Dimmsdale, so you know other than you there's not many that I can invite in my birthday." Heather stated with a dusting of pink in her cheeks.  
The small cake was ready, a small candle was lit on it. Timmy switched of the main light of the apartment.

"Happy Birthday to you.  
Happy Birthday to you.  
Happy birthday to ,dear Heather.  
Happy Birthday to You."

Timmy ended the birthday song, Heather blew out the candle. Then she halved the cake and force fed the half to Timmy.

"Never thought, that I'll befriend a detective in this new city. Life is so random." A tear of joy escaped Heather's eyes as she hugged Timmy.

Timmy was little shocked due to the sudden burst of emotion of this blonde girl. He returned the hug.

"I'm sorry…" Heather broke out and apologised, "I'm this much happy after an eternity, so you know….." Timmy cut her off, "We all can use a hug, there are no issues in it."

"You are such a nice guy, tell me seriously, do you really have a girl-friend?" Heather asked playfully.

"No, I'm currently single." Heather's eyes lit up, "Me, too. How about making it our maiden date?"  
Timmy blushed, he was again taken aback by her revelation, though he was expecting something on those lines.

"Why Vicki can't be like this? She had sex with me, yet she gives me mixed signals, but this blonde is head over heels for me even without having sex. Vicki surely is a demon." Timmy was taken out of his imagination as Heather asked again,

"Did, I break you, pretty boy? Don't tell me that you're a virgin?" Heather teased again.

"No,No. Literally speaking, I was thinking to take you out, for this date."Timmy replied, trying desperately to save his face.

"So how about we start it here? I'll order pizza." Heather ordered the pizzas and the duo set themselves up on the couch.

"We know so little about each other, why don't we get to know each other better?" Timmy opined.

"Ok, let's bring it out; the truth dwelling in the realm of our lives." Heather smiled dramatically. This antic forced a smile out of Timmy.

"I was born and raised in Dimmsdale. Both my mom and dad are bigshot traders in share market, they tried their best to shove me in the abode of capitalism, but I was fascinated by detective work. So you see, that's how I ended up being a detective." Timmy stopped.  
Heather's eyes suddenly became moistened, "I never saw my Mom or Dad. They never existed for me. I was left on the streets, but there was a tough man. Gave me a home and four square meals. Helped me to succeed in life, even gave me his surname, Salt."

"I'm sorry…"Timmy genuinely felt bad but Heather shrugged it off "That's in the past, I consider Jaccquine Salt of New England to be my mom and dad both."

"Tell me Timmy, why you became a detective in the first place?" Heather asked.

"Well, let's say that at a tender age I witnessed a great detective at work, I got fascinated by his reasoning and decided to be just like him." Timmy ended, the question brought up some very old memories, old yet clear.  
Timmy asked"This'll be a long story for sure. Are you sure?"

"Not at all, I'm quite eager for it."Heather replied.

 **(Captured in his eyes)**  
A very young Timmy Turner was on a rare outing with his parents. For the first time in the short lifespan of Eight years Timmy's parents had taken him out with him. They were off to their Great aunt Edna's house for a summer weekend. She was repeatedly requesting her nephew, Turner to pay her a visit with his family. Now after a verbal wrestling with the management , achieved this vacation.

"Sport, do you know that we gonna be stargazing in the night?" Cosmo asked his son.

"But, dad; what's stargazing?" Timmy promptly asked.

His mother Wanda replied, "That's when you look up at the stars using a telescope. Your great aunt Edna also has one."

"Yay, that would be fun, my friend AJ also has telescope, he says that he has seen big stars and things, the milk…um…milky way. He says it's fun, now I'll be the second in my class to do stargazing." Timmy sounded very happy.  
Great aunt Edna was a solitary woman, living just around the university. The area was very calm and quiet, a great place for academics. She had taken in some varsity students as paying guests; this ensured her company and finance at the same time.

Aunt Edna was already informed that Cosmo is coming with his family, so she was waiting for them in front of her house. It was a two storied classically modelled house.  
"So this is the little munchkin you're talking about, he looks more like your late father." Aunt Edna picked up Timmy and kissed him on his forehead.

"Will we stargaze, great aunt Edna?" Timmy asked with a very energetic voice.

"Certainly yes, sweety, and call me aunt Edna. I don't wanna be called like an old hag." Edna smiled.  
Both Cosmo and Wanda bursted into laughter.

Aunt Edna was giving the Turner family a tour of the Campus. It was a Saturday so the classes weren't there. People were playing and gossiping around the campus.  
"Oi, Rita, Jessica, Monica, April." Aunt Edna called out the girls who were busy playing lawn tennis.  
Aunt Edna introduced the four varsity students with her nephew's family. Apparently the stuneds were the paying guests of Aunt Edna.

All of them sounded very enthusiastic and well mannered except April. She instantly sneered, "Hey you guys, don't get duped by this whore. She might just want to molest your little kid." She pointed at Rita.  
"What did you say, fucking sex slave of the prof.?" Rita shot back.

Aunt Edna sighed, "You girls, behave yourselves and April don't utter such things, Timmy is still a kid."  
Though at that time Timmy didn't understand anything, he only figured out that Rita and April are enemies and clearly not friends.

"These two are the arch-enemies of each other and often indulge in childish spats. Don't take them seriously, especially April."Monica whispered in Wanda's ears.

 **(Timmy inside the locked room)**  
The lunch was quite extravagant. Aunt Edna left no stones unturned to host her favourite nephew Cosmo and his family. The preparations left the Turners humbled.

"Aunt Edna, you surely did a splendid job here, I guess you had to go out of your way to cook all this stuff." Wanda was bewildered.

"It's nothing compared to seeing you guys enjoy. I'm an old lady looking for company. My days are numbered, but when I see you guys, I remember the old times, how Cosmo used to cause a racket, how my brother and sister in law had to cope with his antics. Man, those were days." Aunt Edna looked genuinely happy.

Timmy was exploring the house, there were four rooms in the second floor, every room was very well furnished and the occupant's name was written on the door. One room caught the imagination of the young brunet. He entered a room, he didn't care to see the name written on the front door.

There was a Spanish guitar in that room, Timmy being a spirited boy, he soon started fiddling with the guitar. But being a novice only hampered his cause.  
"Oh, shouldn't have eaten that beef stew, now I'm feeling sleepy." Timmy laid on the beautifully kept bed. A very aromatic smell accelerated his sleep.

Timmy woke up after hearing a loud knock at the door. Then he heard his father screaming, "Hey Timmy, , please open up." Timmy got out of the bed with wobbly feet, the next spectacle froze him up, was lying about the door on her back. Her head was bloodied….Timmy screamed on top of his lungs.

 **(Enter the detective)**  
"So, your son was also at the room , with ?" the detective asked .

"Yes, he dozed off while exploring, herself informed it to us.

"What was the time?"the detective narrowed his eyes.

"It was around 3p.m. When Monica and Jessica went to wake her up for the afternoon tea, she remained silent. So we didn't disturb her, but when she wasn't coming down till 5p.m we got anxious and went on wake her up. We knocked the door several times, then we heard Timmy scream. So broke down the door." Cosmo finished his statement.

"Hmm…that means she was alive till 3p.m." the detective murmured.

"Did everybody knew that Timmy was also sleeping in that room?" the detective asked the gathered crowd.

"Nope, as a matter of fact told me this in person, she said that she didn't mind my sleeping son, in her room." Cosmo replied.

"So in summary, woke up, went towards the door, suddenly the flower vase above the bookcase fell on her head and she died due to the heavy impact sometime between 3.30pm to 4pm. The room was locked from inside and the only key was found in victim's pocket even the windows were closed from inside. Even her blood is on that vase. It adds up fine, it's just an accident, if it was a murder, the little kid wouldn't have been spared also. The corpse seems to have a stripe mark on her left shoulder, probably from her guitar strap." The detective noted mentally.

"But why it still bothering me, why it doesn't seem real, there's something that I'm missing." The detective was pulled out of his thoughts as little footsteps followed him. He turned back to see the blue eyed brunet kid, known as Timmy.  
The kid got little frightened, "Please, don't put me in jail."

"Dumb kid, I'm not that bad, still don't loiter around the crime scene." The detective advised him with a friendly face.

"Can, I watch you work? I like detective stories." The kid looked little buoyant, expecting an yes.

"Fine, just don't get in my way,k?"the detective laid down the ground rules. The detective strode to the flower vase of the hallway, and smelt the red roses. Suddenly it came to his mind, he rushed at the crime scene and examined the aforesaid vase, he noticed fresh water in it though there were no flowers.  
"This vase looks fishy. Why water is there but not flowers? And why the water is fresh? Generally people throw away the water whenever they change flowers." He touched the flower vase and it struck him, he smiled inwardly.

The detective turned his attention towards the little kid, "Hey lil' guy. I guess you were asleep all the time?"  
"Yes, ." Timmy replied.

"Everybody please gather in the dining room, I'll take statements." The detective replied.

"Firstly Mr. and , what were you doing during 3p.m. till the body was found?"

"I was washing the dishes while Wanda, my wife was busy helping Aunt Edna with the pineapple juice recipe. Then as I mentioned you, informed about Timmy and went back. Then I joined Wanda and Aunt Edna and was with them till the body was found." Cosmo asserted.

"We were with him all the time." Both Edna and Wanda cried in unison.

" what were you doing in that stipulated time?"

"I was having a gaming session with Rita in my room till 4p.m. When we were called by for the afternoon juice time, we came down. As April was yet to descend so Monica and I went to her room to call her. We knocked several times, but she didn't reply. She was in bad mood in the morning as she slandered Rita in public. So we didn't take any chance with her and left her alone."Monica replied.

The inspector focused his gaze on Rita, "Tell me about this spat, will you ?"

Rita sneered, "She was a total bitch. She stole my money several times. Whenever I tried to confront her she abused me and even slandered me. She would only like Monica's company, she was even teaching her how to play the guitar." Monica nodded in agreement.

"So, you had a strained relationship with her." The detective concluded.

"Don't tell me that you're suspecting me?" Rita furiously tried to prove her innocence.

"No, no. It was just routine questioning." The detective's reply soothed the enraged female a little bit.

" Jessica, did you notice something strange, when you went to wake the victim up?" the detective questioned.

"Well, now that you mention a very chilly wind was coming out of her room at that time. Generally she sets her ac around 77 degrees but the chill felt around 50 degrees." Jessica answered.

"Hmm….you seem to know much about temperatures." The detective chuckled.

"Well, I'm majoring in Physics, I need to know this trivial stuff." Jessica replied haughtily.

"So, Miss Monica; let's hear your statement?" the detective asked Monica.

"Um….I was with till 3.30 pm, then I went to my room for some nap, I was woken up by around 4 pm. And then things happened just like Jessica said, we went to wake April up but she was asleep, I also felt the chilly air coming under her room's door. Though I can't verify the temperatures as I'm majoring in literature."  
The detective bursted in laughter.

The detective called one person from the forensics team and whispered something in his ear, the man left hurriedly. The detective sat casually on a chair and then asked, "Can I have some cold water, ?"

"Surely." Edna complied with the request. She opened the deep freezer, "What's this? Hey Monica your orange juice is stacked in the deep freezer, it's got frozen. Should I get it out too?"

" ; Aunt Edna. I want to sip the frozen juice, I heard it's great." Monica replied.

The detective was drinking the water, suddenly Rita strode to him and asked, "What's your call?Tell us."

The detective calmly replied, "It's a murder."

The room became awkwardly silent, somehow Jessica managed to say, "But the room was locked from inside and there was only one key which was found in Victims pocket. Then it's an impossible crime."

The forensic came in and handed him a report, the detective smiled, "Nope, this is a very possible crime. Now let me unmask the culprit."  
"Firstly, that vase which apparently caused this tragedy was very peculiar. There were no flowers in it yet it had plenty of water. When I touched it, the bottom of the vase felt cooler than the top. In a uniform room temperature this wouldn't have happened.  
The culprit, filled up the half of the base with ice and kept it on the top of the book shelf." The detective paused.

"But, that can kill a person only by chance and there was no duplicate key, to even begin with." Wanda cried.

"Do you know what the forensic guy told me? They have found traces of bar soap on the key. So the key was duplicated by someone and there wasn't any chance involved in the crime." The detective added on, "Please remember the condition of the corpse, she had her guitar on her back, but tell me why the guitar strap was tightly attached over her left shoulder that it made marks over there?" the detective paused again. The whole room was boiling with excitement.

"Haa…the culprit killed by smashing her metal guitar over her head, then set up the vase trap. Then she put the guitar back of her body, settled it on a dry ice and then putting a string through the knobs, then the culprit went outside, closed the door and locked it. Making an illusion of the door being locked from inside, then pulled the strings appropriately to position the body, the shiny floor only helped the culprit."

"But why the culprit had gone through all this trouble, positioning the corpse and getting the trick correct can be done without the strings and all other stuff?" now it was Cosmo's turn.

"The culprit couldn't find a pair of gloves, searching for them in summer would have drawn attention. Her fingerprints on the guitar and vase wouldn't be suspected but if they were on the body of the victim she would have landed in great trouble."

The detective looked at Monica, "Where is your fake finger nail of your right index finger?"

Monica looked at her bare nail of the said finger with utter disbelief, "What the fuck are you insinuating?"

"Well seemed to have a huge refrigerator for storing dry ice as she supplies them to the University's chemistry lab. Now why finger nail was there?" the detective shoved the mobile up Monica's face, it was the picture of a nail, being found in the aforesaid refrigerator.

Monica was sweating, her eyes became bloodied , she started panting, "Everything is circumstantial evidence, You can't prove a thing with this. Now, can you?" Monica laughed maniacally, Timmy felt afraid for the first time, his gut was telling him that this woman can do anything, anything that a monster can do.

"Is that so? , if I melt that frozen orange juice what will I get as the treasure? Maybe a duplicate key, of April's room with fingerprint. " the detective smiled cockily.

Monica broke down in tears, "She took away my boyfriend, then demolished his self confidence and then he committed suicide. I loved him more than my life, I couldn't forgive her. I killed her just like you mentioned detective."

The police officer handcuffed the culprit and escorted her out, while the detective ruffled Timmy's hairs, "You're fortunate lil' guy, if she saw you, she would have killed you too. You are damn lucky."  
Timmy was dumbfounded suddenly sanity kicked in, he dug out his pocket diary, " can you please give me an autograph?" the little boy said expectantly.

The detective didn't disappoint him, he signed his diary with his trademark sign, it read "Sherlock Hamada."

 **(Present)**  
"So that's how you got inspired to become a detective? Wow almost felt like an mystery anime." Heather replied.  
"Well, you know 'Truth is stranger than fiction'." Timmy smiled cockily.  
Heather suddenly pulled Timmy into another embrace and kissed his cheek, "You are a great guy, but that's enough for today, k?"  
A big smile graced the brunet detective's face.

 **(AJ's dad's Birthday bash)**

"Don't you think that your dad is a bit old to throw a party?" Chester looked surprised.  
"Come on, dude. He is the incumbent senator, cut some slack for him." AJ pleaded mockingly, "Btw, both of you guys are also invited as special guests." He pointed at Timmy and Chester.  
It was their regular bro time and the three friends were discussing "life" over a bottles of beer. When Chester cited that Birthday's are just mere numbers indicating one's proximity wrt death, AJ found out that he had to invite his two flamboyant friends for his dad's birthday bash.


	10. Chapter 10: the insider

Vicki was currently lazing on her couch. There was no better option for her to engage herself into. She was pretty much troubled by this case. Vicki started to conjure her mind on some fuzzy points of that case.

 **1)Who is that oriental astrologer?**

 **2)Why does she hide her face?**

 **3)Why did Veronica consult her?**

 **4)Why she was called from the payphone?**

 **5)Why someone took possession of the late Cordellia's phone and called Veronica from it?**

 **6)Who poisoned Veronica?**

 **7)How could even they know that Veronica was spilling the beans?**

 **8)Are the same culprit is behind Monica's murder?**

Suddenly the doorbell brought Vicki out of her trance. A package has arrived for her. Apparently the package was being sent by a courier service, by a Cordellia Gallo.  
"WTF? How can a dead lady send me such stuff?" Vicki was astonished as the sending day was noted as hurriedly opened up the package. It was an old mobile phone, being sent to started it, and then checked the call list.  
"Good thing I always keep this spare disposable prints can be taken easily."

The next piece of information bewildered her, from this phone Veronica was called, all the call timings indicated that they all have been done after Cordellia committed suicide.

 **(Timmy's mind)**

 **"Shit,I've screwed up, again.** I know Heather is a great girl, but why I can't bring myself to love her. It was a damn accident with Vicki, she also specified that there's no such thing between us. It was all due to alcohol and her longing for Ricky. Yet, why I can't accept it like that? Why I see her every-time when I feel like proposing Heather." Timmy was in two minds.

He liked Heather but his sexual encounter with Vicki has made it awkward. "What if I took Vicki's name while I was having sex with Heather? They both'll hate me. Heather might never talk to me and Vicki might kill me for divulging that .God? why?" Timmy cried in frustration.  
"Now above all that, I've to be at AJ's dad's birthday party. Come on, give me a break, Universe."

 **(In the facility)**

"Vicki, there are three sets of fingerprints being found on that phone. The first two being Cordellia's and her Son's, while the last is of an unidentified person's." the forensic officer told Vicki.

"So, we have no way to figure out this third person's identity?" Vicki replied.

"Seems so. That person isn't in our records, so probably not a convicted criminal." the forensic officer looked dejected.

Suddenly an address popped up in her mind, an address around that hideout, an address of someone whom she met recently.  
"What's her name? That girl from the mall...Heather."

"Fuck, how can I be this much stupid? Heather, she was even connected with Veronica's case. She had the biggest opportunity to pull these stuff and she might have her I need is her fingerprint to ensure a smooth conviction." Vicki looked over-joyed, the forensic was dumbstruck by this spectacle.

"Hey, I will get a print, so please wait for me." Vicki rushed out f her office.

After some searching she found out Heather's apartment. She asked the watchman about her address. The watchman took her to Heather's flat and pressed the calling bell.

The door opened revealing the sleepy blonde, "Oh, detective Victoria, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?" Heather asked, now she was in her full ability.

"It's about Veronica murder case, You might be knowing that she was murdered in her cell and please call me Vicki." Vicki stated plainly.

"Oh my god, she was murdered in a police station, while being in a cell? How that's even possible?" Heather was surprised, "I don't watch news or read the newspaper much. So I was completely unaware of this." Heather still looked dumbstruck.

Vicki offered her a notebook and pain, "If you really remember something about Veronica or something about her visiting an astrologer, please fill it in in."

Heather suddenly blurted out, "Is your right wrist injured? Vicki."

"Hmm...got twist while my punching session." Vicki lied plainly.

"Nothing that I can recall, sorry." Heather handed over the notebook and pen to Vicki.

"Sly fox." Vicki mumbled under her breath, "Can you please allow me to use your wash-room? "Vicki pleaded.

"Fine." Heather sighed, "Such a stubborn-ass ." now it was Heather's turn.

The Bathroom looked neat and clean, the bathtub was full with water, the urinal looked clean also, Vicki was desperately searching something to get her fingerprints, suddenly she saw an olive oil bottle, it was opened, so she promptly put it in her pocket after grabbing it with her handkerchief.

"Thank you very much, ." Vicki said before storming out of her apartment.

"Welcome, Detective Vicki. Hope you use that olive oil." Heather chuckled in her mind, she had seen the cap of her olive oil bottle sticking out of her pocket.

Vicki almost dribbled through her way into the forensic lab, "Match the prints on these bottle with the unknown prints."

The forensic officer obliged, after the test he announced, "There's a perfect match, Vicki."

"Haa..thought you could outsmart me, Heather, still you are a blonde and I'm a red head." she started laughing like a maniac, the forensic official felt very uneasy.

 **(Heather's mind)**

"There's no way that a person like her will steal my olive oil for using it. She must have stolen it to get my fingerprints? But why does she require them? DO they suspect me behind Veronica's murder?" Heather had another hidden quality in her, she was an ace in logical reasoning coupled with her uncanny observational powers, she was an expert in deduction.

"Hmm...I need to find Timmy, he can help me." Heather changed her garments, she had a mission on her hand.

 **(With Vicki)**

"I can't understand, who the hell send me the phone? It surely can't be Heather, Heather could only touch that phone after the Cordellia was dead and she might have taken it from Brian, wait a second I called this phone once from a stranger's phone, shit; They again set me up, but how they managed to get her prints on the phone?Perhaps I'm over-thinking this but still if Heather is the culprit then sending that phone to me would be damn suicidal. I doesn't make any sense, just because Heather lives around the area doesn't make her a suspect but how did her fingerprints got onto that phone?"

"Too much of a trouble, I'll visit the twerp." Vicki readied herself.

 **(Again)**

The doorbell brought Timmy out of his mental dilemma, but the more shocking thing was the reason of the dilemma was standing right in-front of the door. Vicki excused herself and came in.

"Twerp, they are playing a nasty game, they sent me a used mobile from which Veronica was called in last few days and I'm very hungry." the last sentence was being said with more emphasis.

Timmy took out the lunch leftovers, "She only needs food from me..." he heated them up and served them to Vicki. Vicki didn't leave anything behind for him.

"Ahh...this is good, so where was I, the phone I received had Heather's fingerprint over them." Vicki smiled cruelly at him, being a keen observer she figure out how the brunet was astonished after hearing the girl's name.

"Really, but Heather looked like an innocent girl, she can never do this." Timmy couldn't believe his partner.

"Well this doesn't mean she killed Veronica but she might know something more which she is shielding from us." Vicki casually replied, "Don't tell me you have feelings for that girl, you face was bloodless after hearing her name?" Vicki almost burst into laughter at the expense of the bewildered brunet.

A sigh escaped his lips, "If she is a criminal I've no sympathy for her." Timmy's jaw clenched.

"Hold your horses, Twerp. We really don't know that she is the criminal or not, but if you planned something put that on hold." Vicki was serious, in-fact damn serious. Suddenly an idea grazed through her mind, "Hm...it seems he likes that girl, so why not break it up, he has no right to become lovey-dovey when I'm still in the mourning phase."

"I'll give her call and have a chat with her, I guess this might clear the air, btw Vicki did you checked from where the phone was purchased? What if Heather by her own hands sold it to Cordellia." Timmy tried to reason.

"Then she'll have to back up her claim." Vicki stated with a deadpan expression.

Timmy was again pulled out of his thought by the calling bell. To his surprise, after opening the door Heather came in.

Upon seeing Vicki Heather caustically added, "Did the olive oil suit your skin, ?"

Vicki replied, "Well, I needed to know the secret of your glowing skin."

"So, are you becoming unattractive due to your old age? Or you are so indecent that you don't care to seek my cooperation in getting my fingerprints?" Heather's eyes were burning with rage.

Vicki glared at her, "Hmm, your fingerprints are on Cordellia's mobile. It has also been used to call Veronica even after the deaths of Cordellia and her son that ?"

"I've sold this phone from my mall to before her death, I've the receipt of that transaction, you can verify it from the mall." Heather locked her eyes on the redhead to continue the staring match.

"Maybe, you used this as your advantage, nobody would suspect you had an accomplice who betrayed you by sending this to me." Vicki reasoned.

"That's a damn lie Timmy, You know that I won't kill anyone." Heather looked at Timmy with pleading eyes.

"Shut up, stop seducing him." Vicki was raging.

"Enough with this idiocy, Heather you won't leave this town till the investigation is over and Vicki stop pestering her." Timmy took the situation under his control.

Heather looked happy while Vicki drew daggers at him.

( **Alone with her** )

"What's with that attitude twerp?" Vicki yanked Timmy's collar and was boring his face by her eyes. Heather has already left, while Timmy escorted her to her own home and then returned to find a very angry Vicki.

"She has a strong point about the fingerprints and what you did is equal to breaking the law." Timmy replied calmly, disguising his fear of the red-head.

She shook Timmy violently, "Does this investigation mean nothing to you?Do you really want her get out with only a scratch?" Vicki tried her hardest to suppress her tears.

"You're acting as a loose cannon, you are suppressing facts from me, you're not entrusting me at all? Tell me one reason that I should help you?" Timmy knew that he has reached his breaking point.

"Fine, I'll share the details with you but you have to promise that you won't date her till this is over." Vicki pleaded despite her discomfort.

"Ok, as long as you share the intel with me." Timmy looked satisfied with the deal.

She briefed Timmy about Ricky's secret diary and the mirror righting that he has used, Timmy heard the details with great attention. "Ricky was doubting someone in the force, maybe a mole of the perpetrator, this assumption only gets solidified by Veronica's murder. A person who has no restrictions in moving around the police stations can easily get the information about Veronica's testimony." Timmy concluded.

"Hmm...so we can contact officer McCarthy and get those informations.

Timmy had McCarthy's phone number saved in his mobile. He phoned him and asked about persons being present when Veronica decided to give a testimony.

"Well, I wasn't there but as I heard from the juniors that Assistant chief of Detective department Leona Collins was also there along with my colleagues of the police station and her lawyer. She came there to take informations in making some charge-sheet or something like that." McCarthy replied.

Timmy thanked him and cut the call then he stated, "Assistant chief Leona was also present when Veronica decided to give her testimony."

"So you're saying that Ricky was worried of Leona so he hid all this informations in his secret diary, but we have no definitive proof and what about that lawyer, she can also be the kingpin?" Vicki asked.

"She can't be that astrologer, she is too tall to fit that description, and Maria has an alibi when the murders happened." Timmy sighed.


	11. Chapter 11:More revelations

Vicki was censuring herself, "I can't just go on like this. I just can't suspect Heather, because she lives near the crime scene, still I pulled off such a stunt. Am I jealous of her ?"

Vicki felt very angry when she heard the news that Heather invited only Timmy to her birthday party. It felt bad, she couldn't figure out why but it felt bad as if she has just gotten a blow in her abs.

"How can I be jealous of the Twerp and his nit-wit girlfriend,I'm not his fiancée or something. Still I got worked up,that's why I'm still not able to crack this case."Vicki was mentally cursing herself while she was preparing for the Senator's birthday party.  
The senator Robin Jacobs was turning 55 today so he threw an outlandish party for the eminent townsfolk of Dimmsdale. Though it was heard that there would be a small party only for close friends and family of the senator tomorrow. But the most important thing of this party is that the invitees have to come in classical dresses. Men in suits and Women in frilly dresses. Vicki was almost wrestling with her green floral dress, the frills really made her uncomfortable. She always preferred Jeans and T-shirts, she never bothered about cute girly dresses. She was checking herself in the Mirror for the final touch. She didn't look bad but she almost laughed at her reflection, "Ricki would have pulled my legs bigtime for this."a chuckle escaped her lips,"Only if he was there." a sigh followed up.

Vicki was picked up from her residence by chief Hamada, who was also accompanying Assistant chief Lenoa Collins in his private car.  
"Looking gorgeous, Vicki." the chief complimented her with a warm smile.  
"You too sir." Vicki returned the gesture, "Hi, Madam. Collins." she greeted the female superior. Only these three from the detective department were invited in this high profile party,as they helped the senator in an investigation. Chief Hamada was in his black Tuxedo while Leona wore a brown dress. Vicki suited in herself in the car as they drove of to the party.

 **(In the pool)**

"It was a great idea, Heather." Timmy was visibly happy while Heather splashed some water on his face. Earlier Heather proposed that they should hang out in the club the pool, "It's very cheap for one time visits,all we need is just swim-ware."  
Now Timmy also wanted to get rid of the work stress and spend some quality time with Heather, so the idea was very much acceptable to him.

"Hey Timmy let's race, whoever wins gets a special prize of doing whatever with the loser." Heather was panting.

Timmy in general was a very competitive person, he could never say no to any sort of a competition, but the incentive doubled his urge.

Heather came out as the surprise package, her speed in free style was just inhuman. Generally Timmy was handed a total defeat. Now as the bet, Timmy took her out for a dinner date. The day seem to become a good one for him.  
The arranged a candle lit dinner in a secluded corner of the restaurant, the magical candle light made the air quite romantic. Heather with her deep blue eyes, staring at Timmy looked other worldly. Heather took Timmy's hand in her palm and pressed it lightly, "I know that I'm still a suspect, but I'm not doing this for any favour or fear. I think I like you, to the extent of even loving you." Heather's face sported a dusting of pink.

"What, a confession? She thinks that she might be in love with me?" Timmy fist-pumped mentally. But that little lingering feeling kept him bugging, "I've already done things with Vicki. Though she was intoxicated and stuff, but I didn't stop her. I still can't move on from her, despite she had nothing to do with me. Am I leading on Heather?" this inner turmoil also manifested in Timmy's face, though how minuscule it was, Heather noticed this discomfort of her companion.

"I know, that I might have move too fast, You don't have to answer me right here right now." Heather seemed genuinely apologetic.

"No, no. It was just a random thought, nothing to be worried, though it's a big decision so I need say 48 hours to brainstorm a reply." Timmy stated with a chuckle.

 **(At the party)**

People were enjoying drinks and food in the party. The continuous gossip and idiotic salutations were almost boring Vicki to the extent to cut loose and strangle someone to death. So she currently was aloof and sipping on her drink. A commotion broke her trance, a young girl has slipped due to improper handling of her high heeled shoes and was currently being led to the bathroom by another girl.

Foolish brats, they have only parentage and no brains." Vicki cursed under her breath.

The party was quite formal, the absence of intense music and hormonal teenagers took away the sheen. The body guards of various v.i.p's were guarding the whole area, the men and women in black suits and black shades spread an ominous aura, as if something is going to happen as if someone is going to perish.

Suddenly Leona Collin's voice was heard,"Hi, Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm deeply thankful to all of you to give me an opportunity to say something. So without any further adieu, I'll start my short speech. Suddenly the lights got dimmed and a powerful bulb was focused to the makeshift podium.

"Hmm, so Leona has already the mouth-piece in her hand and in dramatic style, she'll hit the stage, snobby ass-kisser. No wonder, she was in Ricky's suspect list." Vicki thought.

"Ahh..." Leona's voice was heard, as a stumbling Leona Collins entered the stage, Vicki knew something was off, "What the hell is sticking out of her back?"

Vicki dodged and dribbled the spell bound crowd to get to the podium, "Yup, just as I thought, a knife was sticking out of her back, these knives were kept for dressing the salad and stuff near the food stalls." Vicki tried to see whether the victim was alive or not.

Suddenly Leona latched on her hand, "Goddess...Divine punishment...Vero..." she collapsed and breathed her last.

The last word, unnerved Vicki, but she could do nothing as Leona already breathed her last. The huge commotion brought out ugly squabbles among the guests as everybody thought that everyone else was the culprit, hough Chief Hamada took control of the situation.

"Silence. The killer is still here, security close all the gates." the security officers obliged, while chief Hamada, strode towards Vicki.

"Chief, this is a open and shut case, the CCTV must have recorded the incident." Vicki suggested. "People, I need the CCTV footages." the chief detective barked.

"Ok, did anyone see something out of ordinary?" Vicki instructed the crowd, a young women came forward, "I saw Senator Jacobs and having a verbal spat with the victim. Though I didn't know the rest as I was busy in the wash-room along with Ms. Tina." the young woman who was the daughter of a famous CEO, informed.

"Are you going to take her seriously? We were just pulling her leg for believing in Japanese astrology." defended himself while Senator Jacobs the host nodded in agreement.

"Japanese astrology, shit I really don't wanna think about that link?" Vicki thought in her mind.

"Both of them are wearing flashy clothing which stands out, while under this sort of surveillance that would be pretty much idiotic for them." Vicki stated her inference, suddenly the young woman named Roxanne cried out loudly.

"What is that? Blood?" she fainted on the floor, Senator Jacobs dashed to tend her, while Vicki and Hamada rushed towards the direction. A V.I.P security worker was lying dead, it was a chest shot and the pistol was held in her left hand, her Black coat was thrown beside her.

"This is very uncommon, why this person shot herself ? More so why in her chest? Why not in the fore-head?Why she did take her coat off when she was attempting suicide?" Vicki blurted out her thoughts.

Chief Hamada stated with a content smile, "Vicki, I know you'll crack this case also, so I'm officially appointing you as the investigating officer .I'm calling in the forensics."

Vicki inspected the corpse, other than those initial ambiguities everything else seemed normal, the corpse wasn't dragged or anything that can suggest that it was moved. Vicki looked around the area but nothing out of ordinary was seen by her.

Roxanne was recovering, the unfortunate girl fainted as she saw a bloody body on that obscure hallway.

Next Vicki checked the CCTV footage, in one particular footage Vicki observed a female security guard came closer to Leona Collins and as if she stuck something on her back. Though the knife wasn't visible.

"So, that's how it is. The guard killed Leona and then committed suicide." chief Hamada inferred.

"But why did she stab her, when she had a loaded gun, if she was going to kill her self, then why bother with the knife?" Vicki asked Hamada.

"That's entirely your call to make, Vicki. But I'll say this, it's a very well organized crime." Hamada chuckled.

"She didn't have a motive, and her coat's positioning looked odd. As if somebody worn it and then left at her side." Vicki realized the whole thing, "So that explains the incident at the beginning of the party" and she strode haughtily towards and the CEO's daughter.

"Ms. Elena, you were in the wash-room, during the whole fiasco?" Vicki asked the CEO's daughter.

"Yup, Tina is my witness, she was standing outside of the door of the toilet all the time. But isn't that security guard the culprit? " Elena looked a bit angry.

Vicki ignored her, " was in the toilet during the fiasco. So she shouldn't be able to know that whether you were present in the wash-room at the same time. What if you weren't there?"

"That's plainly ridiculous." replied with a snarl.

"But, detective, she was there the whole time, infact she heard some commotion and informed me that something had happened and then we both rushed to the spot." Elena replied.

Vicki smiled sadistically, " by any chance did you practice running, while wearing high-heels. Cause you never tumbled, though you were faster in reaching the central hall. You were faster than who is quite athletic."

"So what? What does it mean?" now Tina was fuming.

Vicki chuckled again, "You didn't have the time to get it off, so it should be on you." Vicki crouched with lightning speed and with a sharp tug tore the lower part of Tina's dress. To everyone's astonishment, Tina was wearing a black trouser and black boots under her garments.

"You did this, you killed that security guard, took her coat and disguised yourself as her, then you killed Leona and returned to the wash-room, wore your dress and threw the coat beside the guard's body. Now your garments will test positive as there will be gunpowder residues on them." Vicki ended her deduction.

"You're absolutely right detective.I knew you would be hard to defeat."Tina chuckled and with cat like reflex, opened a bottle and swallowed a pill before Vicki could move a finger.

"Ha, ha. No detective, you can't catch an agent of the Goddess. Leona went astray so she was punished..." the lunatic girl dropped on her knees and choked on her own vomit, just like Veronica.

"So this was the whole game. Ricky was also killed by this Goddess. She is a contract killer, who kills her own customers so that Police never gets to her. What a brilliant criminal, it'll be fun to chase her down." Vicki chuckled inwardly

 **(More surprises)**

The police already took care of the three corpses, apparently Tina was suffering from lung cancer. Recently she became a disciple of a Japanese astrologer. She killed Leona as her Goddess, that person ordered her to do so. Her mobile was filled with instructions from an unknown number, which couldn't be traced.

Vicki was cleaning her face to do away with the fatigue, suddenly she heard a series of knocks coming from a closed toilet. She dashed, the toilet was locked from outside, she unlocked it, only to find a woman gagged an tied beside the commode. She was kicking frantically to draw attention. Vicki untied her, but her face looked very familiar, "Who're you? Who did this to you?"

"I'm Roxanne Walsh. A mugger did this to me, she was a female of my height with black hair and two pig-tails. I couldn't remember her face though." the girl looked relieved.

Vicki dashed towards the central hall, some guests already did leave.

"Where's Roxanne Walsh, the woman who fainted?"Vicki almost screamed.

Senator Jacobs was still there, "She already left, as the case was solved we didn't stop her."

"Shit, somebody posed as Roxanne, was here all the time. Fuck." Vicki kicked a nearby food-stall in frustration, while the whole crowd was bewildered, the real Roxanne had stepped in the room.

 **(Timmy's thoughts)**

"Why this feeling is still lingering in my mind? I had a great date with Heather." Timmy was still trying to find out the source of the thought that was making him uncomfortable.

"Oh yes, Heather had a lions tattoo on her back." then it struck Timmy like a train, "oh, fuck. Vicki might be right, Veronica grabbed the lion's logo in her dying moments."


	12. Chapter 12:Head to head

Heather opened her e-mail account. There was this mail, namely a request. She carefully read thought for a moment and wrote her reply.

"This'll be great." the blonde's laughter reverberated in the closed room.

 **(In the suburbs of Dimmsdale,two days later)**

A man of early fifties was standing alone in the rain. His face was covered under the umbrella. Another stout figure approached him from the darkness.

"Hey, is that you? Jim?"

The figure charged towards the man with a katana in his hand. With one swift slash the old man was left with a deadly gash on his chest. The man was breathing his last, only to have yanked upwards, "Bye bye, old man.

 **(Heath Residence)**

"It's almost one hour, what the hell dad is doing at his study?" Natalia Heath the older sister exclaimed.

"Firstly brother goes missing and then we cursed or something?" Miranda the younger sister replied.

The two daughters of Anthony Heath were very anxious about their father's absence. Their brother Jim is missing for past two days so is one of his dad's collection, a Japanese katana. They didn't contact the Police as they thought Edward might be the criminal.

Suddenly the door-bell rang, Natalia sprinted to open the door.

"Oh, , thank god." Natalia took a sigh of relief. As the person was one of her father's friends.

"You look worried, Natalia? What's the matter? Any news about Jim?" looked worried.

"We were having our dinner suddenly dad got a call, his facial features changed and he directly went to his study. There's no trace of Jim also." Natalia answered.

Suddenly, the phone rand again. Miranda ran towards it.

"Hello. Heath residence. Who is it?"

...

"Who?"

...

"They are not identifying themselves." Miranda cried towards Natalia and who have also stormed towards the phone.

"Give it to me." ordered Miranda.

"IT's Mark. Who is it?"

...

"Why, why did you kill your own father?"

...

"Shit, he hung up."

"Quick, we have to rush to the Sabel lake's west side. He said that he was possessed and killed Ronald." Mr Mark rushed towards Ronald's study. The daughters followed suit.

To their dismay the study was completely empty, only the sliding window was little open.

"He must have left through the window; to the car everybody." already figured out the next course of action.

Three of them sprinted to Mr. Mark's car. Without any further delay, the old man started the car with the young women.

The sisters were very anxious, Natalia almost cried, while Miranda consoled her, while the car sped towards Sabel lake.

The car arrived at the destination within 15 minutes. The traffic was very thin, so they were able to clock around 70 miles/hr.

The sight was very harsh when they reached the spot. There was a cave near the west end, was lying on his back at the entrance of the cave. There was a long gash on his chest, blood splattered on his shirt and trousers. His face only showed horror.

The sisters couldn't control their tears, they cried out loud, Mark while took out his phone and informed Dimmsdale Police.

 **(Timmy's thoughts)**

Timmy was remembering the conversation he had with Vicki regarding Heather.

"Listen Twerp, just because she has a lion tattoo on her back, that isn't enough to incriminate her. We need harder proofs." Vicki censured her partner for his naive thinking.

"But, you were very eager to catch her. Now you're refusing it." Timmy looked flustered.

"Come on, why're you so eager to catch her now? Isn't she your girlfriend?" Vicki shot back.

"No she isn't. I don't mix my personal and professional lives. Heather is a suspect and that's it. It has nothing to do with her personal relation with me and for your information she had proposed me, I've not answered yet." Timmy ended his banter.

"So you're in a fix. You are weighing your options, whether to go with a criminal or a detective?" Vicki sneered. Though Timmy heard a tinge of jealousy in her voice

"So, do you think that I consider you as an option?" Timmy's eyes furrowed over his partner.

"Why not, I'm sexy and hot. You should consider yourself lucky that we did it." Vicki now sneered.

"So that meant nothing? But why me? Why you try to find him in me?" Timmy had enough.

Vicki yanked him by his shirt collar, "Listen carefully twerp. I don't like to go in circles. You look too much like him. The same hair style, the same aura, the similar anything is keeping you alive then it's your resemblance with him."

"So, you would be cool if I take you to a date tonight? Cause I need to figure out my emotions." Timmy looked directly in those pink eyes. They betrayed their owner, instead of rage they only portrayed confusion.

"Fine, whatever? Since that day, I too am very restless. We need to clear this air." Vicki's cheeks sported a dusting of pink.

"You look great, when you're like this, confused." Timmy replied as Vicki leaned dangerously closer to his face.

"Ahem...Vicki, we are in office."Timmy broke the redhead's trance.

Vicki quickly gained her composure and shoved him away, "As if I was gonna kiss you?"

Suddenly Timmy was pulled out of his thoughts, his mobile was beeping.

"Twerp, come quick at the Sabel lake, something have turned up on the west side near that cave."

Timmy heard his partners instructions over the phone and quickly set out for the destination.

 **(Vicki's thoughts)**

"Why the hell, all the time I've something to do, I end up investigating a murder?" Vicki yelled at herself as she was on her way towards the spot.

"But, why someone disguised as a genuine invitee in that party? Was it for the reason to watch over this situation? So that the perpetrator remains silent? But that means a very well informed and intelligent being is pulling all the strings from behind. Is Heather that much intelligent?" Vicki thought in her mind as she drove towards the spot.

"The twerp'll surely reach before me, his apartment is closer to that lake." Vicki pulled around the spot.

The police have already encircled the crime scene, while police lines were everywhere. Vicki saw two young women on their knees and an elderly man consoling them.

She strode on towards the police line and flashed her id towards the guard.

She was ushered in, only to see Timmy and Inspector McCarthy inspecting the crime scene. McCarthy saluted her, while Timmy smiled.

"The Victim is Ronald Heath, a businessman and art enthusiast, 50. The time estimated time of murder was between 7 to 7.30. The cause of death was a slash by a sword around the chest area and severe blood-loss from that. The daughters and a friend of the victim testified that victim's son was missing for past two days along with a sword from the victim's collection. Around 6.30 the victim got a call and kept himself secluded in his study, around 8 or the dinner time the daughter's called him, yet he didn't come out. Then his friend arrived at his house for some business but another call appeared. The caller was Jim, the missing son. He admitted that he killed his father on this spot. The murder weapon is yet to be recovered and Jim is still fugitive."

McCarthy finished his briefing.

"Thanks, Inspector. Anything more, Timmy?"

"There's a little something, Vicki. It was raining around 7-7.30 yet we couldn't find the umbrella. This whole place is little bit softened due to the rain, yet there were no footprints."Timmy replied.

"So in other words, the body seemed to a bit pressed on the ground, while there is no footprint. Fishy." Vicki replied.

"Inspector, what were the victim's belongings?"

"He had a pack of cigarettes,wallet and a matchbox. We didn't find the umbrella." McCarthy replied.

"Timmy, go with them to their house and search for those things." Vicki instructed him.

"Yes, I'll look for the umbrella and his cell-phone." Timmy chuckled.

Vicki strode towards the bereaved family, "It's very hard on you guys. So I would rather suggest you to go home and take some rest. We'll send the body to you after the autopsy, probably around tomorrow morning. Detective Timothy'll accompany you for some routine work, it'll be fast." Vicki's expression soothed them a little bit.

Timmy accompanied the family to the Heath residence.

He carefully looked at the study and other rooms. Nothing out of ordinary was there.

Timmy asked the daughters about their father's umbrella and mobile.

The both answered in negative, they haven't seen them in the house.

 **(The legend of the cursed Katana)**

Timmy was listening carefully to , "Believe me detective Timothy, that katana is cursed. If a non-Japanese possessed it, then that person'll be engulfed in rage and will murder everyone in the vicinity, a wizard casted this spell on that Japanese sword."

Timmy chuckled, "Do you know that using satanic hymns, one can kill a flock of sheep, but before that you need to feed those sheep some arsenic laced fodder."

"There is no such thing as curses." Timmy sneered.

"It's expected, from 're a man of science, but still there is so much unknown outside this scientific realm of yours." sighed.

"I was the appraiser of that wretched sword, this sword was owned by an esteemed Japanese diplomat. He gave it as a gift to an American general as a token for saving his back. But that sword was cursed, they say a foreigner hating wizard cast a spell on that sword, so the diplomat forbade him not to unsheathe it, even for once. But the general didn't listen and as he unsheathed it, he started indiscriminately killing people around him. bought it from the son of that general." finished his statement.

"Hmm...that Nebraska slashing massacre. That general was already mentally destabilized, even if it was an ordinary sword, he would have done the same. Maybe the reference of the curse fuelled his insanity." Timmy was a rational man, he never believed in such things.

"Then tell me, why Jim, such a loving son can commit this sort of an heinous crime?" almost cried.

"It's still under investigation, so no comments ." Timmy replied.

 **(Vicki's investigations)**

"Hmm...the twerp has already send me some infos. Umbrella and mobile are not found. Ok, and what's this? Hm...Oh, he got hold of the son's wallet and ATM card and cell phone, that's why he thinks it's very unlikely for the son to be the murderer."Vicki read the sms, which was sent by Timmy.

"Yup, a person who is absconding for two days, should at least take his wallet, mobile phone and ATM card." Vicki muttered to herself.

Vicki closely observed the bottom of the shoe of the victim, some red soil got stuck there.

"This place doesn't have red soil, so was the crime scene somewhere else? Why his mobile and umbrella is also missing?" Vicki was deep in her thought.

"Inspector, can you check one thing for me?" Vicki asked McCarthy.

"Yes, Ma'm." McCarthy replied.

"Check, what was the last location of 's cell phone and check the status of Jim's bank account also." Vicki gave her order.

McCarthy phoned the IT department, which handles these requests.

"Hmm...probably this isn't the crime scene. The body was dumped here from somewhere. Probably at that exact location we can find his umbrella and probably the mobile phone. That same area must have red soil colour." Vicki was quite sure of the things.

 **(Elsewhere)**

The Goddess has ordered her to keep a tab on him. She had send in the current location and a photo.

"That's the case, if he tries to do something,I'll pull the trigger." the black clad girl strode towards her destination.

 **(Heath residence)**

"Please, detective. You have to understand, I know my brother. He'll never do such thing. He loved father, he loved us." Miranda almost cried while pleading her brother's innocence.

"It's under investigation , we haven't concluded anything.." Timmy's measured reply

Suddenly took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, only to discard them as they were wet.

"Miranda, Natalia. Please remain calm. Have faith in God. Your father's murderer will not go scot free.." tried to console the bereaved sisters.

"It surely is a foul play, Jim the supposed culprit can never leave the house without his ATM card and wallet. If he really stole the katana, then he should have taken those accessories also, else he can't survive. If he hadn't drawn a large sum of money recently, then by no means he can be the culprit." Timmy thought.

Timmy looked closely at Natalia, she was holding the water bottle in her left hand."Are you a southpaw, Ms. Natalia?" Timmy asked.

"Yes, don't say that you suspect me, detective?" Natalia busted in anger.

"No,no. Absolutely not. The murderer was a right handed person and you all have alibis." Timmy chuckled.

 **(Revelations)**

"So, Jim didn't draw anything from his account recently, and 's mobile was last located near the rundown church.

"Inspector, we are going to that location." Vicki's eyes were glittering, McCarthy couldn't figure out anything but he knew that Vicki has already reached her solution.

 **(Heath residence)**

Timmy was waiting for the guard to arrive. Vicki thought of giving the sisters police protection for the night.

The sudden message from Vicki threw him off, "Assemble everyone at the rundown church, 7th alley,fast."

Timmy knew Vicki had already solved the case, "Hm..probably that place was the real crime scene."

"Everybody please listen to me. My partner, detective Victoria has asked us to assemble at the rundown church on 7th alley. Please co-operate." Timmy announced.

Everybody co-operated without uttering a single phrase, though Natalia looked very fresh. She was the first who probably got over the grief.

 **(The rundown church)**

This area always felt creepy. Timmy wasn't the spirit believer, but this area had an eerie aura around. Even when he strode towards the church, with his current companions, that tingling in his gut never ceased.

"Why detective Vicki needs us here? Any idea?" the question was directed to Timmy but he wilfully ignored it.

"The cop won't answer anything. I'm sure he himself knows nothing." Natalia sneered.

"Oi, you two. Don't fight. We have to keep calm." the older man tried to defuse the situation.

The young women were very pissed for this late night outing and their demeanour spoke volumes about their resentment.

"Welcome, everybody, to the real crime scene." Vicki appeared from the far left corner of the church along with McCarthy.

"What are you saying? Don't joke around, when somebody is dead." cried out.

"Calm down, I've enough proof to say so, in-fact I've already a fair idea about the criminal. I also have evidence." Vicki smiled cockily.

"Don't waste our time. You can't expect a grieving family to dance at your whims?" Miranda snapped at the red headed detective.

"Such impatience, ok I'll start this." Vicki stopped to take a deep breath.  
"The real crime scene wasn't Sabel lake. If that was the real crime scene, then we should have had the umbrella and the mobile phone of the victim there. On victim's shoe, there was red soil. Now that area doesn't have that soil type. So the crime scene wasn't that place. When I did a GPS search on the victim's mobile, this place turned up as the last visited place. When we came here we discovered blood of the victim. Now over there the beneath the flowerbed there seems to be a freshly dug up spot, big enough to bury a human." Vicki stopped.

"Inspector, call out them. We need to dig that place up." Vicki ordered McCarthy.

Under the high powered flash-lights, 5 efficient labourer started digging up that place, a corpse came up. Of a young man with a very prominent resemblance with the sisters.

"Brother is already dead? How? " the sisters were awe struck, still looked very composed.

Vicki concluded, "Your brother couldn't have killed your father. He has been dead for at least two days."

Timmy's mind was clear now, he saw the truth, he knew who was the culprit.

Vicki asked the shivering Miranda, " , when you guys were going to Sabel lake, did you took a sharp turn on the last bend?"

"No, it was a clear journey, is a very good driver." Miranda replied.

"Mark , can you explain why the tyre tracks of your car is at that turn, suggesting that your car bumped against the guardrail?"Vicki shot this question to .

"How can you say so? There are many owners having same models as me." defended.

"I've checked the others, no other owner of that exact same model, some of your car's paint is also got stuck on the guardrail, they will match with your car." Vicki smiled sadistically.

"So what, even if I had an accident how is that related?" shot back.

"So you're admitting that you bumped against the guardrail?" Vicki asked.

"Yes, so what? I came to see the view, two days ago. It happened back then." Mark shot back.

"I like this, I like a worthy opponent ." Vicki chuckled.

" Mark, your cigarette packet was dripping wet , you must have been in rain." now it was Timmy's turn.

" You killed dad?" Natalia looked astonished.

"Detective Valentine, we got a bloody jacket also." McCarthy informed while holding a jacket in his gloved hands.

"That's Mark's." Miranda cried in excitement.

" Mark, I've checked the call records, that call which you apparently received at Heath residence was made from your own cell-phone. You made a scenario which can insinuate Jim's presence. You called and informed him that Jim wants to meet him at the rundown church. You came here killed , then buried your jacket and the murder weapon. Transported the body over your car's roof and then dumped it on Sabel lake, by bumping against that guardrail. Still there will be victim's blood over you car's roof. We have already procured the Katana, which you have used to kill and Jim. Your fingerprints will be over it." Vicki concluded her analysis.

McCarthy rushed towards the car of , which was parked nearby, sighed "You got me. I killed Jim to obtain the Katana and then I killed Ronald, he owed money from me."

"You fucker, you killed brother and dad for this." Natalia jumped at the confessing perpetrator and grabbed his collar but something caught Timmy's attention. Natalia, shoved her right hand in her pant's pocket. Before she could bring out anything Timmy's kick threw her off from the culprit.

Timmy shouted to a bewildered Vicki, "Natalia is left handed, she isn't Natalia."

Before the duo could react, Natalia laughed and said, "Goddess considers you as her worthy foes." and threw a knife towards Mark's throat and ran away.

Vicki chased her, while Timmy attended Mark , the knife has perforated his throat, his final utterances became very hazy and chaotic. "I failed...the goddess...my mailh..."


	13. Chapter 13

Vicki was chasing the culprit along the woods, the culprit gained upper-hand over the athletic detective, during the chase. The distance between them became more and more substantial with each passing moment. The chase was futile and Mr. Mark couldn't be saved.

"It's sort of a poetic justice by that Goddess person. She plans murders for her clients, if they fail she eliminates them, she sounds like more of a unforgiving artist than a cold-blooded killer." Vicki stated while being seated on her desk.  
Timmy was listening to her ramblings and at the same time looking at the files, there was no past cases involved with this "Goddess", they couldn't even sketch the profile of the Goddess's assistant.  
"They are very smart and do incorporate thorough planning, but what gives them this confidence?" Timmy asked in a very muted voice, "Planning murders is one thing and executing them under the nose of the p.d. is a different thing."

"Don't forget twerp, they even infiltrated the p.d by Leona and then brutally eliminated her when she was going to spill the beans, what's about the background check on Heather?" Vicki asked in a deadpan manner.  
"Her story checks up, she is really the adoptive daughter of Jacquine Salt. She is a genuine person and can't be the Goddess, we hacked her email accounts but got nothing suspicious." Timmy still looked tensed, which was little odd for Vicki, _"Don't tell me, that twerp's gonna break up with that blonde, just due to a mere speculation."_

"Hmm...anything else?" Vicki quirked an eyebrow.  
"Just one little thing, Ricky's id is still being used by someone, the mail company thought that it should be notified to us, maybe someone is trying to hack his id." Timmy answered.  
"You, idiot. That's a big thing, track the ip immediately." Vicki was furious now.

"Have already tracked that, it's from Heather's address." Timmy replied with a heavy tone.

"For your best interest, I would solemnly request you to keep calm chief Hamada." Heather stated to the hog-tied police chief. His mouth was also gagged, so his protests became mere muffled mumblings.  
"This'll be interesting, as a student of chemistry you should know that, what is going to happen if I just force you to drink this cyanide cola." Heather shoved the poisonous cola in-front of Hamada and stripped the gag, and pressed his nostrils. Hamada had to open his mouth for breathing.

"So the next stop is Heather's flat, I hope we can get some clues about her from there, she is probably out for work now." the senior detective ordered the junior one, "But that might amount to breaking in, we don't even have an order against her." Timmy was baffled.  
"That's only a stupid legality which can be bypassed for the time being. Don't worry I've duplicated her keys, we can easily break in and zoom out without leaving a trace. I have been informed that she is out for work and won't return in another five hours." Vicki had her signature smug smile.

 **(Somewhere** **else)**

 _"How can this happen, I've shut the room completely, still how did it get in?"_ A fat elderly man was shaking in fear, as over the wall in red paint **"Die, Die a hundred times"** was written. He was trembling in fear as someone approached him in the locked room.  
A blood cuddling scream was heard as the man bled to death from his stab wound, the attacker smiled devilishly.

 **(Heather's apartment)**

Timmy and Vicki was almost ransacking Heather's apartment for clues, "Nothing, there's absolutely nothing that I can find, which could implicate the blonde." Vicki was flustered as they have combed almost nothing out of her apartment, old books, photo albums, irrelevant newspapers, etc, but nothing of real value, "Like a kimono or a Japanese Mask, we already know how the mastermind killing planner dresses but we're unable to find them." Timmy sighed.

"Maybe, we're just searching in the wrong place, have you ever thought, that out of all people why it was Ricky in the first place? Why Heather would choose his id over other's?" Timmy never pondered on that point.  
"Cause Heather knew him?" Timmy tried this angle.  
"Nope, if he knew about her beforehand I would have known also, what's this?" Vicki pointed at an old photo of Heather with a bunch of people, posing after scaling a peak. "Hmm...amateur mountaineer. Wait a second, that's the Blizzard group. Oh we got a lead twerp." Vicki's eyes glittered with renewed vigour.

Another hour has passed by, Timmy and Vicki were slothing in the recreation room. Well practically they were playing Chess to bust off some stress.

"Vicki I've already searched about the Blizzard group, they are mountaineering amateurs, I've also secured their contact number." Timmy was going to touch the rook.

"Hm...You can't do it, twerp. Else you get the check head on." Vicki smiled with a dark overtone.

"Fine." Timmy relented and moved another piece, Vicki was just too good for any match resulted in another ruthless victory for the redhead. Then the duo went to their desks.

"Hello, is this the Blizzard group?" Timmy asked through the phone.

"Yes we are. How can we help you?" the phone was on speaker for Vicki to take notes.

"I'm detective Timothy Turner from Dimmsdale police station, I need some information on a certain Heather Salt."

"Ok." the voice on the other hand gulped once, "She used to be a member of our group, but she moved out around seven months ago."

"So she currently is not a member anymore? Was due to some discordances? " Timmy asked.

"No, she was a very sweet girl, we're also baffled by her decision of quitting."

"Did anything particular happen to her before that?"

"Now, that you mention it, almost 1 year ago she went out on an expedition in Nepal with another person. It was her solo endeavour."

"Do you know anything about that other person?" Timmy asked with a bit curiosity.

"No idea, she didn't disclose that to us, but surely that man has to be an American, since she was talking about the passports and Visas for both of them."

The call was over, Timmy was immersed in his thoughts, while Vicki had something else in her mind." _This is not rational, why someone would tie to snap the ties with such an organization, especially when there were no discords. I guess that trip to Nepal has something to do with this, cause this behaviour in not rational. Most importantly Heather never admitted herself into any other organization of that sort, maybe the man who accompanied him to Nepal has something to do with this. I need to know who the fuck he was, maybe I might text that Khandu guy?"_

"Whom are you texting?" Timmy asked the red-head.  
"An informer, I guess I might have a lead on that man who was her companion." Vicki replied.

Suddenly the land phone of the office rang and Timmy picked it up.

"Vicki, an incident happened in the Manor park area, a body was found in a complete sealed room with stab wound. We are given that case."

 **(Hamada's peril)**

Hamada knew that his end is nearing. Maybe she wanted to toy with him a bit more. Despite that he knew that he needs to act first.

"She has probably gone to take a pee, this is my chance, I sincerely hope that Vicki catches this..." Hamada with his last bit of strength wrote something on his white pant with the poisoned cola.

 **(Unexpected)**

Vicki checked her phone, Khandu has texted back. He gave every detail of the person who got visa with Heather. Vicki quirked an eyebrow, " _This is interesting_."


	14. Chapter 14: The sealed room

Timmy knew that something important has come in Vicki's inbox. Still he couldn't figure out the those thoughtfulness of the pink eyes. He had seen them displaying anger, pity, indifference, brilliance but never this feeling.

"What did the report say?" Timmy asked her while overtaking a slow biker.

"It's something very unusual and deep. If this information is true, then I really don't know how'll we proceed in that case." Vicki sighed.

"So, a bigger name has come up?" Timmy followed up with another question.

"Yes, if that's true then I'm pretty sure that this corruption runs deep inside our department. She's getting help from a higher up." Vicki sighed again.

Timmy focused on the road, he knew that silent illegal raid on heather's house was the last resort, yet he couldn't still believe her as a cold emotionless killer.

They arrived near the apartment and went inside. The crime scene was preserved for the duo. Vicki asked the Officer on duty about the details.

"Detective Valentine, this is a sealed room murder. When the maid came back after the shopping trip, she found out that her master has locked the room from inside. She called him to open up as tea time was nearby, but he won't reply. So she called for help and two neighbours came out in her help. The trio knocked down the door to find him lying dead in a pool of blood. We checked their testimonies and their story holds. According to the coroner the incident happened between 10-10.30 pm. The maid was buying veggies from a supermarket and she got caught in a cctv. The neighbours were all in their respective rooms watching a Soccer game. The only key of the room was found in his pocket." the Officer stopped to breath.

"Hmm...so were there any other copies of that key?" Vicki asked.

"Nope, Ma'm. There were none to found." the Officer replied back.

Timmy was busy looking at the corpse, suddenly some marks on the skin of waistline caught his eyes, infact some of those marks were directly over the stab wound, "What's this?"

"What?" Vicki looked at the marks, "Probably wore a tight belt or something." suddenly it hit her, "Did you find any waist belt or something like that?"

"Yes, he used to wear it for the recovery of his operation. When they found the body he wasn't wearing it, it was later found over the couch." the Officer replied.

Timmy looked over the majestic red wall, it looked beautiful in the glittering sunlight. yet Timmy saw markings on the wall, as if somebody has written something on it. Suddenly something glittered on the leaves of the sunflower plant, that was kept in a small vase in the far right corner.

"Water? In this AC room?" Timmy raised his eyebrows.

Vicki's eyes followed Timmy, and then she looked at the wall. A sly smile appeared in her face. She strode over to the wall.

Meanwhile the maid was summoned in for questioning by Timmy.

"So you're Ms. Monica Graham, the maid of Mr. Lannister?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you tell me everything starting from the morning till you discovered the dead body?" Timmy asked her as Vicki closed in to hear their conversation.

"I came to Master's flat around 8.30. I did some cleaning and washed the cloths. Meanwhile Mr. Nickfrom the next flat came and played chess with him. Then I had to prepare for the lunch, so I went out to buy vegetables and meat around 9.45, Mr. Nick also left with me. Master was still alive. Then after I returned at 10.45 and made a cup of tea for Master and myself. When I didn't find him in the leaving room I knocked the bedroom door, but it was locked from inside and Master was lying in a pool of blood. Then Mr. Rico from the next door checked his vitals and said that he's no more." Monica almost cried.

"Were your master wearing that belt ?" Vicki asked.

"I didn't see. He used to wear it under his shirt, so I couldn't see it."

"Did your master have enemies?"

"I don't know much, but he was a good man."

"Did he have any friends?"

"Not exacty, but Mr. Nick often came to play chess with him."

As the detectives excused the young maid, the next person came in, "This is Martin Mally. One of the two neighbours who found out the body."

Vicki started questioning the bearded man, "Mr. Mally, what're you doing between 10-10.30 am?"

"I was enjoying the rerun of a soccer match." he replied.

"Hmm...did Mr. Lannister had any enemies?"

"No, I don't know. He was a retired Professor and the living example of a gentleman. To think that somebody would even kill him, still makes no sense to me."

"Ok, were you acquaintances?"

"Not exactly, I won't consider that I was one of his acquaintances."

"Was he popular with the other residents?"

"He was. Infact, Nick, the guy who along with me and the maid discovered him, was a very ardent fan of him. He used to play Chess with him, every evening."

"When you got the body of Mr. Lannister was he wearing any belt like thing, like the ones which people wear after an operation?"

"I didn't notice. Infact that's the first time I heard about something."

"Ok, fine." Vicki ended her interrogation with a yawn.

Timmy whispered, "Did you notice that?"

Vicki replied, "Probably Vanishing spray if you're mentioning about the wall, the water marks are visible from this angle. If you're suggesting about that little dew on Sunflower leaves, then that's probably due to cranking down the temperature."

"Amazing, but how could you know it was Vanishing spray?" Timmy was bewildered.

"Well for starters, Vanishing spray is mostly made of 80% water, 17% Butane and 1% surfactants to lower the surface tension. Now the Butane gets evaporated leaving the water and bubbles the surfactants holds onto the bubbles thus making them visible. Though they eventually collapse and the whole thing disappears." Vicki explained it.

"So you're saying that someone, painted with vanishing spray on the wall?" Timmy asked.

"It seems so, infact the evidence that temperature was also lowered to increase the longevity of the bubbles." Vicki replied.

"So it was a threat to him, as If I Try to trace the water marks, it becomes Die, Die." Timmy replied.

"Yup, but why such a method was needed? If the culprit wanted to kill Mr. Lannister they why did he want to alert him by threatening him?" Timmy was confused.

"Let's quiz Mr. Nick, shall we? Then we can solve this puzzle." Vicki replied.


End file.
